Saints lose in the Beaver Dome 84-73

PRATT, Kan.- Seward County Community College men's basketball team loses on the road to Pratt Community College 84-73, falls to 14-11 overall and 7-9 in Conference play. The Saints trailed by one point at halftime but the Beavers second-half shooting propelled Pratt to victory. Saints remain in fifth place in the Jayhawk West and now two games behind Hutchinson Community College for fourth place.

In the first half, the Saints trailed 19-9 after a three-pointer by Deonte Davis, who leads the team with an average of 39% from that range and 2.9 made threes a game. Seward responded with a run of their own to claim the lead 29-27 with two free-throws by Branton McCrary, who returned in action Saturday night after he missed six out of the last seven games. At halftime, the Beavers had a 37-36 lead over the Saints, very similar to their first match up when it was all tied at 30 all after the first half. 

The Beavers started the second half on a 14-4 run to take the lead 51-40 with 14:38 left to play, this was the separation that Pratt continued to keep for the rest of the game. The Saints were unable to prevent the beavers from getting to the rim and the free-throw line, as Pratt shot 48% from the field in the game. Seward shot 43% from the field and 34% from three-point range but never caught up to the Beavers in the second half.

Pratt had four of their five started in double-digits and were led by Zool Kueth with 24 points and one rebound. The other Beavers in double digits were Deontae Davis with 19, Tommy Thomas with 15, and Julian Eziukwu with 11 points.

The Saints had four players in double-digits but led by  Branton McCrary in his return with 21 points.  Kyle Cardaci had 12, Roy Clarke added 11, and Surakata Jawara had 10 points.

Seward will be back in the Greenhouse on Monday to take on Dodge City at 8 PM.