Saints Dig In Late to Knock Off Garden

For the second straight game, the Seward County Saints got a feel of what Jayhawk Conference basketball is supposed to feel like in a heated atmosphere Wednesday night in the Greenhouse.  With a number of Garden City fans making the trip down to support their Broncbusters and the Saints faithful packing the Greenhouse for the midweek affair, it was a highly contested contest with Seward getting out to a nine point halftime lead just to watch Garden roar back and make it close late before eventually the Saints hung on to win 92-87. 

The Saints got out to a quick 4-0 start on buckets from Charles Beauregard and Mitchell Packard, but Garden answered right back, tying the game up at 8 five minutes into the contest.  A three point by James Byrd gave Seward the lead back and a long bomb from Kris Williams pushed their lead to six at 14-8.  A Delano Jones three later in the half extended Seward's lead to eight and at the first half media timeout the Saints led it by seven, 26-19.  A pair of free throws followed by a step back three from Niem Stevenson pushed the Seward lead all the way to a dozen and the Saints continued to pour it on the Busters, opening up an 18 point lead with under seven minutes to go as Beauregard drove to the basket and scored to make it 39-21.  A 7-0 Garden City run out of a timeout closed the gap to 11 and the Busters got it to single digits before the half, cutting the Saints lead to 49-40 at the break. 

Back to back finishes in traffic by Stevenson quickly put the Saints up a dozen early in the second, but with their crowd behind them, the Busters wouldn't give up, quickly cutting the Seward lead back to six at 56-50 with 15:00 to go.  Jones found himself open under the basket on a rebound to stop the Garden momentum , but moments later a pair of Garden City free throws made it a five point game with 13:36 remaining.  The Busters got to within four with 11:54 to go before a quick 12-0 Seward run looked like it had put the game away for good with the Saints now leading 72-56 with just 9:08 to go.  But Garden answered again with their backs to the wall, making it a three possession game with 5:55 remaining and the score 78-70 in favor of Seward. Garden continued to hang around, but the Saints were able to keep them at arm's length until an 8-0 Buster run over a 1:29 stretch erased the Seward County lead to just three at 85-82 with 2:21 remaining.  The Saints dug their heels in on defense from there, holding the Busters without a single field goal for the next 1:57 as they pushed their lead to six.  A Garden basket with 25 seconds left made it a four point game, but that was as close as the visitors would get on this night as Stevenson knocked down a pair of key free throws late and the Saints hung on to win 92-87. 

The final shooting numbers weren't pretty for the Saints as they finished the night shooting just 37% from the field, but Seward made their money at the free throw line where they outscored Garden City 35-21 in the five point victory.  Beauregard led Seward with 26 points in the win while Stevenson scored 24 points and had 10 rebounds in his second double-double in three outings.  Packard played 38 tough minutes for the Saints, scoring 7 points and pulling down a career best 8 rebounds. 

With the victory, Seward improves to 17-5 on the year and 7-4 in rugged Jayhawk Conference action while Garden City drops to 13-9 overall and dips to under .500 in Jayhawk play at 5-6. 

Next up for the Saints is a battle against another Southwest Kansas foe in the Dodge City Conquistadors who come to the Greenhouse Saturday night for an 8:00 tip.  Free tickets are available courtesy of our buyout sponsors Holiday Inn and Flooring America at their Liberal locations. 

SEWARD COUNTY/GARDEN CITY BOX SCORE