Charles Chaney
Sports Editor
Saturday Nov. 11 was not kind to Butler athletics. While the football team suffered a tough loss, the men’s basketball team did, too. Garden City stole a victory from the jaws of the Grizzlies 75-59 at the Power Plant. The Grizzlies fell to 0-1 in the Jayhawk Conference.
Despite jumping out early 7-5, Butler let the Broncbusteres went on a 13-0 to take an 18-7 advantage with 12:12 left in the first half.
“We fought back, but they were up so big but we didn’t have enough to make up that difference,” first-year assistant Daven Vo said.
Every time Butler made a run, the Broncbusters found an answer. Butler cut the 15-point lead down to nine with 8:34 left in the first half, but Garden City would extend it with a 13-6 spurt of their own.
Garden City led 39-24 at halftime.
Butler would pull within 49-40 with 13:53 left in regulation, bringing Butler to their closest margin since early in the contest. However, Garden City would respond with a patented recovery effort. Garden City used a 13-5 run to ice Butler’s chances of winning.
Sophomores Karlon McSpadden, Antferene Adams and Adrian Moore all had 11 points for Butler. Russell Smith, despite going 1-of-7 from the floor, made 8-of-8 at the free throw line and finished with 10 points.
Butler only shot 27.7 percent from the field and was 1-of-10 from deep in the second half. Butler never found their shooting form, which when you’re trying to make a comeback, is helpful.
“We have to get back to the drawing board after this one,” Vo said. “Not really reset but concentrate a little more on what we need to do.”
It is the second straight season Butler has started the conference season off with a 0-1 record. Butler dropped their season opener to Garden City last season. While Butler started out conference play 1-3, they would go 12-3 over their next 15 conference games.
