Box Score After signs of improved effort and execution in a loss at Coffeyville, the Conquistador men's basketball team was looking to put together a more complete performance in their Jayhawk West opener against Colby Community College. They got great efforts from their sophomore big men and that complete team input on the way to a 83-79 win on Wednesday.

The game opened with Dodge City men looked similar offensively to the way they did in the first 10 minutes on Saturday night. They once again jumped out to an early lead behind a couple of early threes from guards Unique Mency and Justice Dixon. Jyrus Freels then entered the game and completely took over on the offensive end. The Trojans did not have an answer for the big sophomore forward. Freels scored 17 points in the first half on the way to a 44-30 lead at the break. 

In the second half, the Conqs continued to go to their big men as Colby could not guard them on the interior. In the second half it was Kevin Howard that put up the dominant performance. He seemed to be all over the place as he constantly frustrated the Trojans by getting to the rim and playing extremely hard on the defensive end of the floor. The Conqs did go cold from deep in the second half that allowed Colby to get back into the game. The Trojans rode an amazing individual effort by Craig Beaudion with 36 points to get back into the game. They managed to draw close multiple times in the second half, but could never take a lead. The Conqs finally iced the game with two free throws with just 3.2 seconds remaining.

Freels finished the game with 25 points and nine rebounds, while Howard added 16 points and nine rebounds of his own. Mency and Dixon kicked in 12 and 11 points respectively to round out the double digit scorers for Dodge City. Trey Hill also added four assists while only turning the ball over once for the Conqs.

The win moves the Conqs to 7-10 overall and 2-6 in conference play. They will be back at home on Wednesday when they host Barton Community College at 7:30pm at the Student Activity Center.