Saints Lose Fourth Straight, On the Road For Playoffs
| Final | 1 | 2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Colby Community College (18-12, 10-9) | 40 | 47 | 87 |
|
Seward County Community College (18-12, 8-11) | 41 | 40 | 81 |
It was the end of the regular season Monday night in the Greenhouse and with a loss to visiting Colby, it made it an end of an era for Saints fans as falling 87-81, the Greenhouse faithful have seen their last of one of the best players in Seward County history, Niem Stevenson as Seward will be on the road for the first round of the 2016 Region VI Tournament beginning on Thursday.
The pace was to the liking of the Saints early on as a red hot Niem Stevenson pushed Seward out to an 18-12 lead with 14 points in the first 4:43 of the contest. Seward scored the next three and led Colby 21-12 with 12:42 to go in the first half. The Saints held the nine point lead to the 7:30 mark of the half, but Seward led Colby hang around and eventually erase their lead and take a lead of their own with 3:11 left in the half. A strong finish to the half allowed Seward to grab a 41-40 lead at the break.
The Saints shot just 39% in the half while Colby was a tick better at 40%. Seward forced 13 first half Colby turnovers but it was nearly a wash after the Trojans grabbed 12 offensive rebounds and outboarded the Saints 26-16 in the period. Stevenson led all scorers with 17 first half points.
Seward and Colby went back and forth to begin the second half and found themselves knotted up at 58 seven minutes in. After Seward took a one point lead with a Stevenson free throw, the Trojans scored seven of the next eight to take a 65-60 lead. The Saints deficit quickly grew to 11 with just 5:51 remaining, but a pair of free throws from Marcus Mathieu and back to back three point plays from Charles Beauregard all of a sudden had Seward back to within just three at 78-75. Back to back defensive stops and a bucket from Mitchell Packard made it a one point game, but Colby rolled off the next five in a row, two coming off of an ill-timed Seward technical foul to push the Trojan lead back to six at 83-77. The Saints kept clawing, getting it to a two point game with one minute left and had a chance to tie it from point blank range with 30 seconds left, but misfired and would never get the chance again. Colby knocked down enough free throws down the stretch to hold off the Saints, taking home an 87-81 win to sweep the season series for the first time since the 2006 campaign.
The league's highest scoring offense was held until 40% shooting for the second time in three games as Seward shot just 38% from the field in the loss. Seward falls despite forcing 29 Colby turnovers, due in large part because of a 57-29 Trojan advantage on the boards in the contest. Stevenson led Seward with 24 points while Mathieu added 17 and Beauregard 16 in the loss.
Seward loses for the seventh time in eight games to end the regular season and drops to 9th place in the Jayhawk Conference standings at 8-11 in conference action. The Saints finish the regular season 18-12 overall. Colby gets a huge boost with the victory, going from looking at a 9th place finish with a potential loss to Seward to vaulting all the way to the #5 seed with the win. The Trojans end the regular season 18-12 overall and 10-9 in conference action.
The Saints will have two days to prepare for their opening game of the Region VI Tournament when they will travel up the road for the second time in eight days to the Perryman Center in Garden City to take on the Broncbusters in an 8:00 tip.