By MIKE KESSINGER

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mkessinger@gctelegram.com

In the final seconds of the game, Seward County Community College guard Nick Burns launched the ball high into the air at Perryman Athletic Complex. By the time the ball had descended back down to the court time expired, and Burns celebrated with his teammates.

It was the Saints moment to enjoy beating a Garden City Broncbusters team, who had given up an eight-point lead with five minutes left, and who simply couldn't get the shot they needed as time ran out. A Burns 3-pointer with 20 seconds remaining was what buried Garden City for good as the Saints left town with a 69-68 Jayhawk Conference win. The frustration for Garden City (14-5, 3-3) could be heard loud and clear from both the coach and players.

"A lot of the things we did in the last minute-in-a-half didn't materialize," Busters head coach Kris Baumann said. "There were a lot of things we drew up and wanted the kids to do. For some reason we kind of strayed away from what we were suppose to do."

With a 68-62 lead on a Corey Claitt putback with 3:11 left, the Busters slowly wilted. A pair of Ervin Williams free throws pulled Seward County within four, then Williams scored a layup with 1:09 to go. Nine seconds later, Claitt gave possession back to Seward County as the ball hit off his foot and went out of bounds as he tried to drive to the basket. Forty seconds went by and Burns nailed the go-ahead 3-pointer. It was the Saints first lead since a 6-3 advantage.

"We let them back in the second half and they shouldn't have," point guard Jordan Ragan said. "They were just getting easy buckets."

The Busters did have plenty of chances for a game-winner after Burns' shot. The first came when Ragan shot a jumper from inside the three-point line, but the ball bounced off the iron and Seward County knocked it out. With one final chance the Busters went to Claitt. As he received the ball and had trouble holding on it for a second, Claitt shot a long 3-pointer that sailed over the rim. Burns grabbed the rebound and ran down court in celebration.

"It was drawn up for Corey, but it was drawn up for him to go to the basket," Baumann said. "He just hesitated and hesitated -- it was drawn up for him to go to the basket and he didn't go to the basket. He's shooting 22 percent from three (range) and that's why I want him to go to the basket and try and make a play."

Overall, the Busters troubles Wednesday couldn't have come at a worse time. Through 18 minutes of the second half, Garden City had been in control. The Busters build a 10-point lead on a Ragan 3-pointer early in the half. Any run Seward County made from there the Busters seemed to shut down... that is, until the final three minutes.

The loss sends Garden City to Hutchinson on Saturday hoping for a revived effort against the top team in the Jayhawk Conference Western Division. Garden City had won three straight, but now is back to .500 in the team standings.

"We have got to work more on defense and zone defense too," Ragan said. "We need to polish up on our zone. We need to make sure everybody's clicking, everybody's on the same page."

Ragan finished with 16 points, which was second best on the team behind Claitt with 18.

The Saints 6-foot-9 Darko Cohadarevic caused all sorts of trouble for Garden City in the second half, and he finished with a team-high 17 points. Bruno Mendes, who hit 3-of-4 from three-point range scored 13 points for Seward County, while Williams and Bryson Hampton each had 11 points.

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Seward 34 35 -- 69

Garden City 43 25 -- 68

SEWARD (16-4, 4-2): Chamberlain 3-12 1-1 9, Burns 2-7 0-0 6, Williams 3-7 5-7 11, Cohadarevic 8-13 0-1 17, Mendes 5-7 0-0 13, Jones 0-0 0-0 0, Dixon 0-2 2-2 2, Hooks 0-0 0-0 0, Hampton 4-6 3-3 11. Totals -- 25-54 11-14 69.

Garden City (14-5, 3-3): Flemming 3-8 1-2 7, McNabb 2-3 0-0 6, Young 2-6 0-0 6, Tarvin 0-1 0-0 0, Brown 3-4 1-2 7, Ragan 5-16 1-2 16, Claitt 7-16 3-3 18, Baird 0-1 0-2 0, Ottley 1-1 0-0 2, Link 3-9 0-0 6. Totals -- 26-65 6-11 68.

3-Point goals -- Seward 8-18 ( Mendes 3-4, Burns 2-6, Chamberlain 2-4, Cohadarevic 1-3, Dixon 0-1); Garden City 10-23 (Ragan 5-9, Young 2-5, McNabb 2-3, Claitt 1-5, Tarvin 0-1). Rebounds -- Seward 29 (Cohadarevic 9); Garden City 43 (Flemming 7, Ottley 7). Fouled out -- None. Assists -- Seward 10 (Cohadarevic 3); Garden City 12 (Tarvin 5). Blocks -- Seward 9 (Chamberlain 3, Burns 3); Garden City 6 (Link 2). Total fouls -- Seward 14, Garden City 17.