Broncbusters earn tough road win at Pratt

By Mike Pilosof

Pratt, KS-Tone Hunter to the rescue.

The freshman scored 28 points, Mohamed Diara chipped in 17, and Garden City escaped with an 80-78 victory over Pratt Wednesday night at Dennis Lesh Sports Arena. The win snapped a two-game skid and improved the Broncbusters to 9-5 overall and 3-5 in conference play.

Heru Bligen added 14 points for the Broncbusters who held off a furious second-half rally by the Beavers to win for just the second time in their last seven games. The sophomore guard buried a 15-foot jump shot, Micah Octave beat two defenders to the rim, and Diarra finished off a sensational three-point play to cap an 11-0 run that put Bill Morosco's squad up, 63-49 with 13:36 remaining.

Pratt though didn't go away, and back-to-back triples by Tommy Thomas and Eric Rhymes polished off a 25-11 surge that tied the game at 74. Hunter answered on the other end with a pair of free throws that put Garden City ahead 80-77 with 18 seconds left.

But as Morosco can attest to, nothing in the Jayhawk Conference comes easy.

In the closing seconds, RIny Lual fouled Rhymes shooting a 3. The sophomore made the first, missed the second, before intentionally misfiring on the third. Harrison Eghan grabbed the offensive rebound, but his last-second heave fell short, giving the Broncbusters their first win in Pratt since Feb. 13, 2018.

Garden City faced some adversity in the first half when AJ Weston buried a 3-pointer, and Nasan Ayala banked home a layup to give the home team a 13-7 edge. And after Diarra and Hunter combined to score the next nine Broncbuster points, eventually giving Garden City a seven-point lead, the brown and gold managed just 11 points over the final 6:30 and trailed 41-40 at the break.  

Hunter finished 11-of-26 from the field for Garden City, which won the game despite shooting just 1-of-17 from beyond the arc. Octave scored 10 points, and Jyre McCloud added eight on 4-of-5 shooting in 19 minutes off the bench.

Ayala and Cam Morris combined for 42 points for Pratt, which lost for the first time since Dec. 4.

Next up: Garden City vs. Cloud County-Saturday, Jan. 8-4 p.m.