Garden City drops road tilt with Fort Hays Tech

Goodland, KS-It was another slow start for Garden City.  

The Broncbusters missed 11 of their first 13 3-point attempts and trailed by as many as 11 points in the first half in an 87-82 loss to Fort Hays Tech Northwest on Wednesday night at Max Jones Fieldhouse 

Josiah Sabino scored 22 points and pulled down eight boards for the Broncbusters, which dropped their second straight game to fall to 11-10 overall and 6-9 in the Jayhawk. Caleb Smith added 15 points and Antonio Chol chipped in 13 but was just 5-of-14 shooting.  

Chase Harris tallied 34 points and 10 rebounds for the Tigers, which followed up a 14-point win over Hutchinson on Saturday with their third victory in their last four contests. Marquintez Dixon recorded 13 points and 10 boards.  

Fort Hays Tech Northwest, which outscored Garden City, 56-42 in the paint, never trailed. They scored the first five points including a rim-rattling dunk by Dixon; were up seven later in the first half after Da'King Smith connected on a corner 3 to make it 29-22. Moments later, Kalik Sharpe slithered his way to the rim, Dixon added another jam, and the Tigers had their largest lead of the game, 41-30 with 40 seconds left in the period.  

The Broncbusters managed to cut the deficit to two seven minutes into the second half after a steal and layup by Sabino. Harold Thompkins though responded on the other end with a three-point play, and Dixon banked home a finger roll to make it 64-57.  

With less than three minutes to go, Garden City was down by eight. That's when Sabino drained a 3; then completed an and-1 layup to bring the Broncbusters to within two. That's as close as Isaiah Tisdale's team got the rest of the way.