T-Birds tumble 74-67 to Broncbusters in overtime

It took the Garden City Community College Broncbusters just over a minute in overtime to grab control of a Jayhawk Conference showdown with the Cloud County Community College Thunderbirds.
Cloud County and Garden City battled to a 59-59 tie in regulation.
The game was knotted at 62-62 two minutes into overtime when the Broncbusters scored seven points in 1:01 to go up 69-62.
Cloud County, unable to overcome that quick offensive outburst, fell 74-67 to Garden City Saturday afternoon in Bryant Gymnasium.
Cloud County, after losing its final game prior to semester break at Dodge City Community College, has dropped two straight since returning and is now 10-6 overall and 6-4 in conference play.
“First semester we started 0-2 and won eight in a row. So I told our guys, we started second semester 0-2 and we will see if we can rattle some off again,” Cloud County coach Devin Kastrup said.
Coming off a road loss at Coffeyville Community College on Wednesday night, the T-Birds had a 55-48 lead on Garden City when Corey Sawyer hit a three-point shot.
Cloud County would manage just one field goal and two free throws over the final 5:19 of the second half.
Back-to-back three-point shots by DeJion Humphrey pulled the Broncbusters within a point, 55-54.
Humphrey was 7 of 12 from three-point range in scoring 34 points.
Jaborri McGhee made one of two free throws to pull Garden City even with Cloud County at 55-55.
Humphrey was called for a technical foul, but Sawyer missed on both free throw attempts.
Sawyer did a jumper in the lane in the ensuing possession to put the T-Birds on top, 57-55.
Garden City, 11-4 overall and 6-4 in the conference, tied the game at 57-57 when Buru Naivalurua made two free throws.
Justin Graham, who led Cloud County with 25 points and nine rebounds, went one of two from the line with 1:33 on the clock to make it a 58-57 game.
Naivalurua scored on a drive 16 seconds later to put the Broncbusters up 59-58.
The T-Birds turned the ball over, but got a defensive stop.
Graham was fouled with 27 seconds left. The sophomore missed the first free throw but made the second to tie the game at 59-59.
McGhee had a shot attempt blocked and the ball went out of bounds to Garden City with 2.6 seconds remaining.
A long three-point attempt by Naivalurua was off the mark as time expired, and the game went to overtime.
“Make a couple of free throws,” Kastrup said of what the T-Birds could have done to win the game in regulation. “We had an opportunity to go up one and we missed. We missed two straight technical free throws. The little tiny plays can add up over the game. You make three or four of those in a one possession game, and that is the difference winning in regulation and going to overtime.”
Cloud County was trailing 62-60 in the extra period when Graham hit from 15 feet to again knot things up.
Garden City then got four straight points by McGhee and a three-point shot by David Elliott in a span of 1:01 to take control at 69-62.
Graham made a three to get the T-Birds within four points, 69-65, with 1:39 left.
Following a missed shot by McGhee, another three-point attempt by Graham would drop.
Two free throws by McGhee gave the Broncbusters a 71-65 cushion.
A pair of free throws by Sawyer again made it a four-point game with 25 seconds to play.
Garden City connected on three of four free throws in the final 22 seconds to lock up the win.
“We ran out of gas,” Kastrup said. “They have three of the top 40 players in the country, and when it comes to overtime, it sometimes becomes who makes more one-on-one plays. And where we typically rely more on our team offense, I think it is hard in overtime. We missed a couple and they made a couple of tough isolation plays. And that was the difference in overtime.”
Sawyer scored 15 points and pulled down seven rebounds for Cloud County.
Joe Kearney added 13 points.
Elliott finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds for Garden City.
McGhee scored 12 points.
Cloud County bolted to a 19-9 lead in the game.
The T-Birds were limited to eight points over the final 10:25 of the first half.
Humphrey scored 13 points as Garden City used a 20-8 run to go up 29-27 at halftime.
Cloud County outscored the Broncbusters 19-9 in the first 9:09 of the second half to grab a 46-38 advantage.
Garden City rallied to force overtime.
The T-Birds will play at Cowley College on Wednesday night.