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GCCC men fall in OT to Pratt
Published 1/21/2010 in Sports
By MIKE KESSINGER
mkessinger@gctelegram.com
PRATT -- A coach can tight-lip an issue for as long as possible at times. Other times, they can't.
After his team fell 87-84 in overtime on Wednesday against Jayhawk Conference Western Division foe Pratt Community College, Garden City coach Kris Baumann simply couldn't keep quiet on one matter. In fact the fourth-year coach made it quite clear what was irritating him.
"You saw how the game was officiated," he said. "I thought it was -- it's too bad that kids aren't allowed to determine the outcome of games within league games. It's not the first time it's happened to us this year and it's not the first time it's happened to other people in this league. And it's too bad, it really is. It's a shame."
On a night the Broncbusters hoped to
gain a little more breathing room from the bottom of the conference standings, there were certainly a number of calls made the by officials that irritated Baumann, but one stood out. With 9.9 seconds left in the overtime the Beavers' Tyrone Gordon hit two free throws to put his team up 85-84, The Busters inbounded the ball to guard Chris McHenry, who went the length of the court and dribbled to the left corner by the GCCC bench. As he went up for the shot it appeared Pratt's Illiwa Baldwin may have pushed McHenry as he landed well off the court and his shot bounced off the iron. The whistle blew on the shot and McHenry was called for traveling.
"I don't see how you travel when you're still dribbling the ball," McHenry said. "I never heard of that."
The call set off Baumann, though he kept himself composed enough from being hit with a technical foul. GCCC (10-9, 1-4) fouled Gordon again and he hit both shots. With a chance to send the game into a second overtime, McHenry took the inbounds pass with 3.3 seconds and got to half court where he lofted a high-arching shot that hit the iron again and bounced off.
The Busters and Beavers battled through a game in which the largest lead was eight by Pratt (15-4, 4-1). But on Wednesday, the result wasn't so much the loss as the focus as how it concluded for Baumann. The Busters were called for 25 fouls compared to 15 for Pratt. At the free throw line, the Beavers had 38 shot attempts, and the Busters had 15.
"We put the ball in one of our best players' hands and he got knocked 35 feet from the basket dribbling to the basket," Baumann said. "I just don't understand it. Vince (Banks) makes a play where he puts it in the basket and they take it away and call it a jump ball. Those things to me are just mysterious. I just don't understand it."
The shot Baumann referred to came early in the the second half, when on a drive into the paint, Banks was locked up with a defender as he went up for a shot.
If anything, Banks was the Busters' main source of offense as he finished with a game-high 27 points on 8-of-11 shots. He was 8-of-8 at the free throw line.
"He was good, he's capable of that," Baumann said of Banks. "He's got to do it every night.
"We've still got work to do. We have to get better. That's all we can do as a basketball team."
Four Busters scored in double figures. Following Banks, McHenry had 15 points, point guard Bobby Wesley had 11, and Travis Burley added 11.
Baldwin led the way for Pratt with 19 points and 10 rebounds. He connected on 10-of-14 free throws. Gordon scored 16 points, Trae Beck had 12 and Trent Thomas 11.
GCCC will be home for a Sunday afternoon game at 4 p.m. against Cloud County. The Hi-Plains League tournament championship games will be Saturday night at Perryman Athletic Complex on the GCCC campus.
"We learn from our mistakes and we just can't put ourselves in that situation so we should be up enough points," McHenry said. "So if the refs do make a bad call we'll still have room to win."
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Pratt 87, GCCC 84 (OT)
GCCC (10-9, 1-4) -- McHenry 7-17 0-0 15, Morales 0-0 0-0 0, Wesley 4-7 1-2 11, Jirmnson 2-4 0-0 6, Farris 0-0 0-0 0, Griffin 3-4 0-0 6, Brown 1-6 0-0 2, Banks 8-11 8-8 27, Phillips 0-0 0-0 0, Burley 4-6 2-2 10, Jackson 3-7 1-3 7. Totals -- 32-62 12-15 84.
PRATT (15-4, 4-1) -- Smith 3-7 2-2 9, Baldwin 4-8 10-14 19, Valerius 1-4 0-2 2, Beck 4-10 2-2 12, Gordon 4-9 7-10 16, Reese 0-0 0-0 0, Rutherford 3-5 0-0 9, Hayes 2-3 5-8 9, Thomas 4-8 0-0 11. Totals -- 25-54 26-38 87.
Halftime -- Pratt, 37-35. 3-point goals -- GCCC 8-27 (Banks 3-6, Wesley 2-4, Jirmnson 2-4, McHenry 1-9, Brown 0-4); Pratt 11-24 (Thomas 3-6, Rutherford 3-5, Beck 2-6, Smith 1-4, Gordon 1-2, Baldwin 1-1. Rebounds -- GCCC 29 (Wesley 7); Pratt 39 (Baldwin 10). Assists -- GCCC 2 (Brown 1, Jackson 1); Pratt 11 (Hayes 4). Steals -- GCCC 5 (Wesley 3); Pratt 4 (Gordon 3). Fouled out -- GCCC, Jackson, Wesley. Team fouls -- GCCC 25, Pratt 15. Turnovers -- GCCC 7, Pratt 15.
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