COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Despite defeating Air Force Prep 61-55 on Friday to open three straight days of games at the Air Force Prep Tournament in Colorado Springs, Garden City Community College Kris Baumann sees a serious roadblock in the way of his team's future success.

"We don't have the maturity level right now that we need," Baumann said. "And I could see it coming. You can see it in how our players act on the way to the game, at the hotel, when they go out to eat ... we need a business mind-set when we go on road trips. Our guys don't understand right now that if you take care of the little things then the wins will come."

The win almost didn't come Friday night, as the Broncbusters (6-1) gave up a big second-half lead against the Huskies, but reeled off a 12-2 run to end the game, including key defensive stops on Air Force Prep's final two possession when the Huskies had a chance to tie the game.

Corey Claitt led Garden City in scoring with 15 points, Sterling Link posted 11 points, six rebounds and three blocks in his return to his hometown, and Tim Brown posted a 11-point, 10-rebound double-double.

"It feels good to be back home, and I've had a couple of bad games in a row so it was nice to get back on the good side of things," Link said. "I've got that momentum so now hopefully I'll be able to keep it going."

Air Force kept the game close by using the flex offense, which ate up big portions of the clock and slowed the pace of the game down. The 61 points scored by Garden City was the lowest total for the Broncbusters all season.

"When the game gets slowed down like that we need to be able to execute better," said Garden City point guard Jordan Ragan. "We made the plays we needed to down the stretch."

After grabbing a 34-25 halftime lead, Air Force Prep's slow-down tempo got to Garden City in the second half as the Huskies took the lead back at 48-47 after Tyler Hall made all three free-throw attempts after being fouled by Claitt on a 3-point attempt as time expired on the shot clock.

A 3-pointer by Jon Atkins with 5:40 to play pushed Air Force Prep's lead to 53-49 before Garden City closed the game out with its big run.

"We want to go out and be able to play our game, force the tempo," Brown said. "Our guards need to realize that they set the tone, not the other team."

Chris Roquemore added six points and four blocks for the Busters. Landon Skinner led Air Force Prep with 11 points.

Garden City takes on Western Nebraska today at 6 p.m.

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Garden City 61, Air Force Prep 55

GARDEN CITY: Flemming 10, Claitt 15, McNabb 2, Link 11, Ragan 7, Brown 10, Roq 8, Tarvin 0, Young 2, White 0.

AIR FORCE PREP: Atkins 12, Jurich 9, Skinner 11, Koschinski 8, Fee 6, Hall 6, Wolf 4.