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No. 1: Busters' run to NJCAA tourney top story
Published 1/2/2010 in Sports
By MIKE KESSINGER
mkessinger@gctelegram.com
It had been 53 years of waiting. Fifty-two years of frustration at the end.
On March 9, 2009, all of the waiting and frustration came to a halt. It was the night the Garden City Community College men's basketball team shocked the Jayhawk Conference world with a 66-56 win over No. 17 Cowley College in the Region 6 championship. The victory sent the Broncbusters to the NJCAA national tournament in Hutchinson for the first time since 1956. The trip to the national event concluded with a sixth-place finish and proved to be reason enough to make the GCCC men's basketball team The Telegram's No. 1 sports story of 2009.
"To me, I don't think there is one specific moment that stood out more than any other," athletic director Bob Larson said. "You could see the ability was there (on the team). A lot of people have the talent to get there, but it's about whether you can put it together to get there. The thing I really wish is that more people from Garden City could have been there to see them play in the Region 6 tournament. There wasn't anything quite like it."
In a season with plenty of ups and downs, the Busters gratified the college community in Garden City. The team had almost limped into the regional playoffs, suffering an embarrassing 66-54 loss at Pratt, and were defeated by nine at Seward County late in the regular season. The Busters were rejuvenated before Region 6 with a one-point win against Dodge City at home on a late 3-pointer by Richard Thomas.
"I was really proud of those guys," GCCC coach Kris Baumann said, who was in his third year in the top spot after being an assistant in 2005-06. "Trevor (Ottley) had played the year before, and Thomas (Manzano), Fred (Williams) and Richard (Thomas) had all been here and sat out the year before, and so it was great to see those guys help us reach that level. We had underachieved sometimes during the regular season, but when Region 6 came around, they really took ownership. They all held each other accountable. I really put them all through a lot. Most guys would have quit with what we went through. With that group no one quit."
Whatever problems the Busters went through, which included Manzano, the team's leading scorer, relegated to sitting in the stands during the second half at Butler, the team pulled together by the postseason. A group Baumann referred to as uncoachable at times the Busters were at the top of their game by the time they reached Wichita.
GCCC finished fourth in the Jayhawk Conference Western Division and opened Region 6 with an inspiring 14-point win against the Eastern Division's fifth-seeded team, Allen County, at Perryman Athletic Complex. In the previous two years GCCC had played in the quarterfinals and lost closely contested games to Coffeyville and Seward County — both teams went on to win the region title. In March, though, the Busters saw it as their time, routing Eastern Division champion Coffeyville 81-69, then knocking off Butler 59-54 in a tightly contested semifinal.
During the Busters' run to the national tourney, Manzano — committed to Wyoming before the season started, and then a second-team All-Conference pick — stepped his game up to a higher level. After GCCC beat Cowley, Manzano was named the Region 6 MVP. Thomas, who proved to be a reliable second scoring threat was also named to the team.
"He thrived in big games, when the lights were the brightest, Tom was at his best," Baumann said of Manzano. "He didn't shy away from being a leader."
After scoring 21, 25, 12 and 16 in the regional, Manzano went into another zone at the national tourney. He scored 38 in the Busters' thrilling 82-79 first round win over favored Highland (Ill.). The game was tied after a basket by Highland with under 25 seconds left, but Manzano had the final say. The GCCC freshman guard spun his way into the lane and knocked down a jumper as he was fouled with less than five seconds to go. His free throw sealed the win.
The Busters had another storyline that made the win over Highland impressive. Ottley, a 6-foot-10 sophomore post , played with a synthetic white bandage down a leg over a knee that had ballooned to a grapefruit size from an injury at practice before the trip to Hutchinson. Ottley finished the game with an impressive 10-point, 11-rebound effort.
"It was just an incredible run," Larson said. "A lot of the credit has to go to coach Baumann and his staff."
GCCC lost to Connors (Okla.) State 83-64 in the quarterfinals, but bounced back to beat South Georgia Technical College in the consolation 89-62. In the fifth-place game the Busters gave up a late lead to Lamar (Colo.) before falling 61-58.
Manzano was named to the All-tournament team and the Busters' 25 wins tied the school-record for wins in a season. Despite the loss to end the season, the men's basketball team reached a level unreached by any other team at GCCC in 53 years and that alone is something Baumann and Larson will cherish for a long time.
"When guys buy into what we're trying to do and understand it, that's what means the most to me," Baumann said. "That group did and it meant a lot to me."
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