Broncbusters fall to Hutchinson for the second time this season

By Mike Pilosof

Hutchinson, KS-It's been a tough stretch for Cole Dewey's bunch, especially from long range.

In their latest setback, the Broncbusters shot just 4-of-18 from downtown, bringing their total tally the last two games to 6-of-38 (16 percent). And Hutchinson feasted on the brown and gold's 3-point misery.

Matt Mayers led four Blue Dragons in double figures with 15 points and nine boards as No. 23 Hutchinson completed a season sweep of Garden City with an 86-64 victory Saturday night at the Sports Arena.

"I thought we fought for the first 10 minutes," Dewey said afterwards. "We were running our offense through Jasman, and then he got tired. Then we started getting away from everything. And offensive rebounding killed us tonight."

The Blue Dragons pulled down 14 offensive boards leading to 14 second-chance points.

"That makes it tough to be competitive with anybody," Dewey explained.

Garden City stayed with Hutchinson in the early going, taking a 10-8 lead following Sangha's right-hand hook in the paint. But the Blue Dragons responded with an 8-2 run capped by Mayers bucket in the post. Then, after KJ Marshall's 3 appeared to stabilize the Broncbuster attack, pulling Garden City to within one, Steve Eck's team hit the brown and gold with a 12-0 surge. Josh Baker nailed a 3, Chris Robinson hit two free throws, and Mayers completed a three-point play to put Hutchinson up 30-17. They led by 15 at the intermission.

"We battled in this game, but it just wasn't good enough," Dewey added.

In the second half, the Broncbusters, playing without Denver Jones for a fourth straight game, looked overmatched. Isaiah Bujdoso dropped a beautiful pocket pass to Jaden Okon, who cut from the left baseline for a right-handed jam, Majok Kuath, who transferred in last year from Salt Lake City Community College, finished off a three-point play, and Hutchinson was on top 47-27 with 16:52 remaining. They pushed that to 25 on Bryant Selebangue's second-chance basket before taking their largest lead of the game 67-42 following Bujdoso's triple with 8:36 on the clock.

Sangha finished with 20 points for Garden City, which lost their fourth straight game. Rodney "June" Lewis was the only other Broncbuster in double figures with 10.

Bujdoso scored 15 points for the Blue Dragons, which won for the 10^th time in their last 11 games. Okon dropped in 11 including two powerful slams, and Baker scored 11 in 25 minutes off the bench.