Broncos Hold On Against Jamestown; In a Five Way Tie for 1st in GPAC
Hastings, NE – The Hastings College men’s basketball team was in need of a win and managed to end its three game skid by holding off Jamestown for the 84-83 victory on Saturday afternoon inside Lynn Farrell Arena.
Hastings, NE – The Hastings College men's basketball team was in need of a win and managed to end its three game skid by holding off Jamestown for the 84-83 victory on Saturday afternoon inside Lynn Farrell Arena.
The Broncos were in need of some offensive output and would get it early and often as Reggie Thomas started the game with an old fashioned three point play followed by a three from Nolan Sughroue. Then the teams proceeded to put on a bit of an offensive show as HC led 20-17 with 11:01 left in the first half.
The Broncos then went inside to Yohan-Steve Yebga for the tough two points and the Quinn Johnson came off a screen and drained a jumper as HC now led 24-17. Grady Corrigan broke free on a back door and Yebga found him for the easy layup as Hastings now led 26-17 as UJ called a timeout.
The Broncos did build the lead to as many as 12 but Jamestown made a bit of a run and led 42-36 at the break.
The Jimmies would eventually cut the lead down to two points at 59-57 but Thomas would off a high screen and buried a three to make it 62-57 with 8:48 to go. Hastings would get a couple of stops plus a Johnson free throw and a Danilo Matovic layup to go up 65-57 with 7:22 to go. Then Corrigan found a cutting Thomas as he went for the reverse layup as HC was back up by 10 with 6:32 left to play.
As the game began to grind as the Jimmies were doing all it could to get back into the game, Hastings would go 8-for-15 from the charity stripe over the final 2:34 of the game which leff the door open for Jamestown.
But Hastings was up 79-71 with :46 to go as Colby Vazquez made a layup but an arrant pass led to a Will Cordes corner three as HC was now up just 79-76 with :36 to go in the game. After a Todd Raridon timeout, Hastings managed to break the press and Thomas found a wide open Tyrique McMurrin for the layup to go up 81-76 with :34 to go.
Cordes would then make a tough jumper with :23 to go to make it a three point game but Thomas would get fouled and make both his free throws as the Broncos now led 83-78 with :17 to go. Cordes missed his jumper but the ball would stay with the Jimmies with just :10 to go. They would get a layup but McMurrin got fouled and made one of his free throws to go up 84-80 with just :04 to go. Hastings allowed the uncontested three from Cordes to go in at the buzzer but Hastings held on for the big one point victory.
Hastings finished the game shooting 55.8 percent (29-for-52) while the Jimmies shot 49.2 percent (30-for-61). The Broncos shot 80 percent (8-for-10) from downtown while Jamestown shot 48 percent (12-for-25). Rebounding favored HC 38-to-32.
Thomas led the way with a game high 29 points as he was 9-for-17 from the floor and 4-of-5 from behind the arc while pulling down nine boards. Johnson added 13 points off the bench as he was 5-for-8 from the floor. Corrigan added 12 points as he was 4-for-5 from the floor whiel Matovic finished with 10 points, seven boards and five assists. McMurrin added nine points while leading the team with 11 boards.
Hastings is now 15-7 (10-4) on the year and will be back in action Wednesday Feb. 7 hitting the road to take on Midland with tipoff set for 7:45 pm inside Wikert Event Center in Fremont, NE. Also with the win, the Broncos are now in a four way tie for first place in the Great Plains Athletic Conference with six games left to play.
