By MIKE KESSINGER

mkessinger@gctelegram.com

GREAT BEND -- Sterling Link grabbed a defensive rebound, launched a pass down court to Damien Young who threw up an alley-oop to Tyrone Flemming for a thundering two-handed dunk.

Young turned around swung his arm with a clinched fist and ran down court.

It was, to say the least, a sequence the three Garden City Community College basketball players enjoyed, but could also give a small sigh of relief. The dunk gave the Broncbusters a seven-point lead with one minute, 30 seconds left in their game Thursday night against Barton County at Great Bend. From there, the Busters did all they needed to for an 82-76 Jayhawk Conference win. It is Garden City's first conference road win of the season and puts the Busters above .500 in the standings at 3-2, pushing their overall record to 14-4.

"Every win on the road is hard," Flemming said after his 13 point, 14 rebound performance. "Barton, this is one of the hardest places to come in and win at. We just came in as a team, stuck with them, jumped on them early, let them back in the game, then rallied it late in the game and came up with a victory."

It probably couldn't have been any better than Flemming described. The Busters had all the momentum early as Flemming scored the teams first seven points. He then continued to do all he could to help Garden City build a 21-7 lead, including setting himself as a shield between a Barton County defender and Corey Claitt, who knocked down an eight-foot jumper. Claitt received the ball from Flemming who was driving to the hoop and bounced the ball behind him as he almost went into the paint.

"All the credit goes to the kids," Busters head coach Kris Baumann said. "The kids played well. They defended. They played well early."

The only trouble the Busters had was maintaining the momentum built early. Barton County (13-5, 1-4) went on a 23-5 run to take a two-point lead. It was extended to a 33-30 advantage when Qa'rraan Calhoun knocked down his second straight 3 -pointer. Jordan Ragan answered Calhoun's trey with one of his own, and Garden City went into halftime up 41-39.

"I thought it was a great team effort," Baumann said. "The kids played their tails off tonight. I'm happy for them."

The Busters lost their lead in the second half when the Cougars took a 59-56 lead. After a Link dunk gave Garden City a momentary one-point lead, Barton County again went on a run finished by a Chris Jackson layup and foul that made it 64-60.

It was the Cougars final chance to pull away as Garden City scored 10 straight points finished by a Link dunk. The Busters worked their way up to the seven-point lead off of Flemming's dunk, and the Barton County crowd started to trickle out with a 1:08 left.

"That's a kind of play we know the game is over now," Flemming said of the dunk. "That's the kind of play to clean up the game right there. After that play we kind of figured we had the game won, but we knew (Barton) had guys like Jackson who is a big-time shooter. We knew we had to play defense."

The contributions came from every where possible for Garden City. Five players scored in double-figures as Claitt led the way with 17 points. Young dropped in 14, while Link equaled Flemming's 13, and Tim Brown came off the bench to score 11. Ragan was a free throw short of having a double-double as he finished with 11 assists and nine points.

Jackson was as dangerous as Flemming mentioned as he finished with a game-high 30 points for the Cougars. He was 12-for-20 from the floor. Calhoun and Sandy Perry each had 12 points for Barton County.

The Busters will be off this weekend and will be back at home Wednesday at Perryman Athletic Complex against Seward County. The game is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.

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Garden City 41 41 -- 82

Barton County 39 37 -- 76

GARDEN CITY (14-4, 3-2): Flemming 6-17 1-2 13, Young 5-10 1-2 14, Ragan 3-11 1-3 9, Claitt 5-14 5-11 17, Link 5-7 3-7 13, McNabb 0-0 0-0 0, Tarvin 1-1 0- 2, Baird 1-2 0-0 2, Ottley 0-1 0-0 0, Brown 5-6 1-3 11. Totals -- 31-69 12-28 82.

BARTON COUNTY (13-5, 1-4): Parris 0-4 3-4 3, Jackson 12-20 2-4 30, Steven 2-9 0-1 6, Perry 5-8 2-4 12, Simmons 2-8 0-0 4, Lamb 4-5 0-0 8, Calhoun 5-15 0-0 12, Bueno 0-0 1-2 1, Williams 0-2 0-0 0. Totals -- 30-71 8-15 76.

3-Point Goals -- Garden City 8-23 (Young 3-8, Ragan 2-7, Claitt 2-6, Tarvin 1-1, Flemming 0-1); Barton Co. 8-28 (Jackson 4-10, Calhoun 2-9, Steven 2-6, Parris 0-2, Simmons 0-1). Fouled out: Simmons, Barton County. Rebounds -- Garden City 43 (Flemming 14, Link 9); Barton Co. 53 (Calhoun 12). Assists -- Garden City 20 (Ragan 11); Barton Co. 18 (Parris 6). Total fouls -- Garden City 16, Barton Co. 20.