Broncos Whip Briar Cliff; Stand Alone in 1st in the GPAC
Hastings, NE – It felt like the teams had traded places as the Hastings College men’s basketball team struggled to score on the road at Briar Cliff but this time it was the Chargers that struggled to score as the Broncos throttled BCU 71-48 on Saturday afternoon inside Lynn Farrell Arena.
Hastings, NE – It felt like the teams had traded places as the Hastings College men's basketball team struggled to score on the road at Briar Cliff but this time it was the Chargers that struggled to score as the Broncos throttled BCU 71-48 on Saturday afternoon inside Lynn Farrell Arena.
The Broncos did not want a repeat of what happened up in Sioux City and came out to prove a point as Reggie Thomas got things going with back-to-back layups to start the game. Then Thomas dished the ball to a wide open Nolan Sughroue as he buried the three for the early 7-0 lead.
Briar Cliff would get on the board with a Tyrus Eischeid three followed by a Blake Sindelar layup to make it 7-5. From here, it was all Broncos as Thomas dished the ball down low to Danilo Matovic for the layup and then Thomas picked up a couple of free throws to make it 11-5.
Hastings had a game plan to try and take advantage of its size and once again Thomas went to the low block to Matovic for two to make it 13-5. Then Tyrique McMurrin found a wide open Grady Corrigan for three as Hastings was now up 16-5. Following a McMurrin free throw, Thomas broke free into the lane again for a layup followed by a three from McMurrin to make it 22-5 as BCU had to call a time out. At this point, the Chargers were shooting just 15 percent from the floor.
Briar Cliff would only be able to widdle the lead down to 10 before the Broncos built the lead to as many as 26 before taking down the Chargers 71-48.
Thomas had yet another double-double with 25 points and 12 rebounds as he also dished out five assists. Thomas was 9-for-17 from the floor and a perfect 5-for-5 from the line. McMurrin also finished with a double-double with 17 points and 10 boards. He was 6-for-9 from the fllor and 4-of-5 from the charity stripe. Matovic finished with 10 points and seven boards. Corrigan finished with eight points while Sughroue added five.
The Broncos finished the game shooting 57 percent (28-for-49) from the floor while holding BCU to just 34 percent (18-for-52). HC also won the rebounding battle 38-to-26 while also outscoring the Chargers 38-to-16 in the paint.
Hastings improves to 19-7 (14-4) on the year and will be back in action Wednesday Feb. 21 hitting the road to take on No. 21 Concordia with tipoff set for 7:45 pm inside Friedrich Arena.
The Broncos currently sit along at the top of the Great Plains Athletic Conference while Concordia, Northwestern and Morningside all sit one game back with just two games to go.
