Garden City edged out by Pratt on the road

By Mike Pilosof

Pratt, KS-There was a reason why Pratt entered Wednesday's showdown with Garden City as one of the top rebounding teams in the league.

The Beavers grabbed 23 offensive boards, the fourth time this season they've had 20 or more, Zool Kueth drained four 3-pointers, and Pratt outlasted the Broncbusters 88-85 at the Beaver Dome. Garden City lost the battle on the boards 48-26 and set a new season-low with just three offensive rebounds. Meantime the Beavers improved to 4-2 in games decided by five points or less.

"I need to find guys that want to rebound the ball," Head Coach Patrick Nee said afterwards. "As much as Michael Frazier is helping us on offense, he didn't give us anything on the glass. And that hurts."

The Beavers looked poised to run the Broncbusters out of the gym in the first half. Kueth went 3-for-3 from deep over the first 20 minutes, Deontae Davis hit back-to-back triples, and Pratt was up 31-20 with 8:15 remaining in the half.

"It's amazing that the game was even that close with how many second-chance opportunities they had," Nee added. "When it's that lopsided, normally you're going to get blown out."

But Garden City never wilted, bouncing back off the canvas with a pair of Tahlik Chavez 3-pointers. After Kueth answered with a long ball for Pratt, the Broncbusters ripped off 10 straight points. Traylynn Spencer dropped in a right-hand hook; then swished two free throws, Chavez completed a three-point play, and Frazier drained a trey from the top of the key, giving Garden City a 45-44 halftime edge. In all, during that stretch, Pratt was held scoreless the final 3:25 of the period.

"I thought we responded nicely to close the half," Nee said. "But at the end of the day, we are 2-9 in conference for a reason. Pratt was just tougher than us."

Garden City stayed on top for the first few minutes of the second half. Chavez buried two more triples, and the Broncbusters were up 57-53 with 16:42 to play.

"It just seemed like every time there was a loose ball, their guys came up with it," Nee said. "That's a problem."

And nothing epitomized that more than one sequence in the second half that completely flipped the script.

With the Broncbusters clinging to a one-point lead, Garden City played one of their best defensive possessions of the night. Jamel Horton spun off of Kyler Lamb, only to have the freshman poke the ball away. James Burns saved it at the top of the key and nearly lost his balance, somehow holding his pivot foot. Moments later, with the shot clock at 2, he fired a pass to sophomore Drew Honas in the corner, who hit an off-balance 3 as the timer expired, giving Pratt a one-point edge.

They never trailed again.

"Anytime you don't get a loose ball, the other team always hits a shot," Nee said. "That's happened to us a few times this year."

Eventually, Pratt opened up a 79-70 lead, thanks to a 20-9 run that was polished off by a HorHorton layup and a Julian Eqiukwu floater from the right block.

"I think we extended ourselves again a little too much," Nee said. "Our press was good, but we gave up a lot of stuff on the backend of it."

The Broncbusters did put a scare into the Beavers late in the game. Down by eight, Kaleb Favors hit 1-of-2 free throws followed by a layup on a sweet move to the rim, Spencer knocked the ball away from Davis before locating Chavez in the right corner for a triple, and Garden City was within two with 1:02 to go. But as was the case all night, the brown and gold failed to grab a defensive rebound on Horton's miss on the other end, eventually fouling the Seward-County transfer on a second-chance opportunity. He calmly sank two free throws; then added two more freebies seconds later as the Beavers put the game away.

Davis finished with 16 points, four rebounds and five assists for Pratt, who avenged an overtime loss to Garden City in their home gym last season. Harrison Eghan notched his first double-double of the season with 13 points and 17 boards.

Chavez was the aggressor for the Broncbusters, scoring a career-high 31 points and pulling down 10 rebounds. Spencer scored 20, and Favors returned from a two-game absence to chip in 13.

Next up: Garden City vs. Dodge City, Sunday, Jan. 26-4 p.m. on 99.9 FM; westernkansasnews.com/kwkr and KWKR mobile app