Saints claim home victory over Garden City

LIBERAL, Kan. – The Seward County Community College men's basketball team posted back-to-back victories for the first time since starting the season with a three-game winning streak after a 78-73 triumph over Garden City Community College on Monday at the Greenhouse. The Saints improved to 10-7 overall and 3-5 in the Jayhawk West.

In, the first half, the Saints trailed the Broncbusters by 11 points, but responded to take the lead, 33-31, before trailing 38-37 at the break. Seward shot just 35 percent from the field, but was 15-of-17 from the free-throw line to keep it close.

Early in the second half, the Saints went on an 8-0 run to gain the lead and go ahead of the Broncbusters by 11. This turned out to be the largest lead of the game for either team. Seward shot 43 percent from the field in the second half and continued to attack the basket, drawing fouls on Garden City to help it claim the victory.

Garden City battled back to take the lead with just over a minute remaining, but Seward scored the final five points to end the game. Surkarta Jawara hit two free throws to give the Saints the lead for good at 74-73 with 1:08 remaining . After two defensive stops, Stephen Takyi hit four more free throws to give Seward its margin of victory.

Rostyslav Novitskyi had a career-high 20 points and grabbed six rebounds, Greg Johnson added 14 points and Takyi netted 10 points for the Saints, who were 39 percent from the field on 20-of-51 shooting for the game.

Tahlik Chavez led the way for Garden City with 20 points, eight rebounds, and two steals and Michael Frazier added 16 points and 7 rebounds.

The Saints are back in action on Wednesday when they take on Pratt Community College at 8 p.m. at the Greenhouse.