Broncbusters finish strong; snap conference skid

Garden City, KS-Talk about a tale of two halves.  

Emmanuel Manyuon scored 20 points against his former team, Finn Eriksson chipped in 17, and Garden City erased an 11-point deficit by outscoring Cloud County, 51-30 in the second half en route to an 85-73 victory Monday night at Conestoga Arena.  

Garden City-native, Jace Steinmetz finished with 11 points off the bench for the Broncbusters, which snapped a four-game conference losing streak to improve to 8-8 overall and 3-7 in league play.  

With Garden City trailing by three with less than four minutes to play in the first half, the Thunderbirds ripped off a 12-4 run capped by Matthew Garber's layup that gave the visitors a 43-32 advantage with 23 seconds left in the half. They were up nine at the break.  

But the Broncbusters hit the Thunderbirds with a barrage to open the second period. Manyuon, who transferred from Cloud County during the summer, knocked down a 3, Steinmetz swished a triple on Garden City's ensuing possession, Eriksson hit from deep, and Steinmetz drained another set-shot trey from the left corner, putting the finishing touches on a 21-3 run that turned an 11-point deficit into a 53-46 lead with 14:17 to go.  

The Thunderbirds got as close as two the rest of the way. Manyuon knocked down two free throws, Joseph Nnamuchi converted a second-chance bucket following Manyuon's missed layup, and Manyuon hit a coldblooded 3-pointer to stretch the lead to 10, 61-51 with 10:07 remaining.  

The Broncbusters finished 11-of-32 (34 percent) from deep and outscored Cloud County's bench, 26-16. 

Syncere Brunette and Keyon Garret-Miller each scored 16 for Cloud County, which fell to 9-7 overall and 3-7 in the Jayhawk. The Thunderbirds finished 15-of-25 (60 percent) from the line.