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Scottie Men Split at Garden City
published November 26, 2012Scottie Men Split at Garden City
The Highland Community College men’s basketball team got both a win and a loss at the Garden City Community College Thanksgiving Classic over the weekend. The Scotties fell to host Garden City by the final of 83-78 in overtime. On Saturday, the Scotties took down the Colby Community College Trojans by the final of 71-59.
The #8 ranked Scotties, 5-2 overall, jumped out to a 10 point lead on the host Garden City Broncbusters on Friday night with 11 minutes to left in the first half behind some outstanding team defense. Unfortunately, the Highland offense couldn’t find the center of the basket and the Scotties took a slim 24-21 lead into halftime. In the second half, it was all Broncbusters for the first 10 minutes, as they built a 10 point lead of their own before the Scotties came to life and put the game into overtime. In the extra session, Highland took the initial lead, but two big 3-point baskets by Garden City put the game out of reach, giving the Scotties their second straight loss.
Freshman James Walker (Detroit, MI) led the way for Highland with 20 points and nine rebounds. Freshman Kris Smith (Beaumont, TX) had 16 points, and fellow freshman Jelani Neely (Chicago, IL) had 13 points.
“We showed the very best we have and the very worst we have against Garden City,” said Head Coach Jerre Cole. “We put on a defensive clinic early in the game, but we just can’t sustain our focus and efforts into 40 minutes. This is a game that made us a better basketball team, but I think we will look back on it with regrets in regards to the outcome.”
Against Colby on Saturday afternoon, the Scotties began the game as flat and unfocused as they had been early in the second half against Garden City, and the Trojans took full advantage of the Scotties’ lack of readiness. Colby jumped out to a 14 point lead in just five minutes of play and held a lead until a Scottie surge gave the lead to Highland for good with seven minutes to play in the first half. Highland took a 42-33 lead into the break and led by as many as 15 points in the second half in route to their fifth win of the year.
Freshman Lloyd Young (Shawnee) led the Scotties with 15 points. Walker was the only other Scottie in double figures with 12 points.
“It took us awhile to wake up but when we did, we really controlled the game on both ends,” stated Cole. “It was nice to see Lloyd Young step up again and provide the scoring we need from him. It was also good to get back to some balanced scoring.”
The Scotties next host Brown Mackie in a pivotal Region VI Division II match-up on Tuesday, Nov. 27 at 7:00 p.m.
