Despite season-high offensive numbers, the Dodge City men's basketball team fell on the road in a tough battle with Butler, losing 121-119 in overtime.
The Conquistadors, with the loss, move to 11-5 on the season and 7-3 in KJCCC. The Conqs remain in first place in a four-way tie atop the KJCCC standings.
A three-point basket by
Brad Johnson set the tone offensively early for the Conqs, and they would play fast and efficient offense. Four minutes into the contest, Butler tied the game at 11-11 behind a three-pointer and then would go up 14-11. Tied at 16-16 six minutes into the contest the Conqs would score the next five points to regain control and ultimately work to a seven-point lead at 24-17. Butler remained in close after forcing some Conq turnovers, but again the Conqs had an answer and took their largest lead of the first half at 42-30 with just under five and a half minutes remaining before halftime. There was a plethora of more points scored over the final five and a half minutes as Butler outscored the Conqs 22-14 to tighten the game, but the Conqs led 56-52 at intermission.
After the initial bucket of the second by Butler, the Conqs scored 10-straight to jump back up to a double-figure lead at 66-54. The Conqs continually held off Butler's advances through the second half, leading by five or more until just under six minutes left. With 3:50 remaining in regulation, Butler took their first lead of the second half, and the game went back-and-forth the rest of the contest. Up 107-103, the Conqs saw Butler net a pair of free throws, then get the ball back off a turnover and tie the game on a layup with 29 seconds remaining. The Conqs looked for the final shot of the game but were unable to get a shot off, leading to a shot clock violation. With 0.1 seconds left, Butler threw a pass to the rim but misfired, and the game went to overtime.
Each team's points in overtime came from the free throw line until 2:21 left, when the first bucket was made in the overtime period as Butler took a 114-113 lead on a layup and then made another to lead 116-113.
Derrick Rivers would answer for the Conqs with a three-point play behind a layup and free throw to tie the game at 116-116. Butler countered with a three-point play, and Rivers then again with another three-point play pulled the Conqs even at 119-119 with 37 seconds remaining. Butler muscled up another layup to snag the lead with nine seconds remaining. The Conqs' final shot came up short with no foul, leading to a 121-119 loss on the road.
Offensively the Conqs had a season-high 119 points on a season-best 54.5% shooting, as they hit 36 field goals and 13 three-pointers, while also going 34-36 from the free throw line and dishing out 21 assists. However, Butler countered by shooting 44%, hitting 14 three-pointers, while logging 25 more shot attempts on the day. The Conqs were hurt by turnovers on the day, finishing with 30 in the loss.
Rickey Loftin II paced the Conqs as he matched his best performance as a Conq, scoring 28 points while grabbing eight rebounds and going 12-14 from the free throw line. Rivers added 24 points, four rebounds, and eight assists, while going 15-15 from the charity stripe. Johnson and
Jayvion Nurse each chipped in 20 points. Johnson was 4-8 from three-point range and added five assists, while Nurse was 8-10 from the floor and 4-4 from three-point range.
Andrew Mabry chipped in a career-high off the bench with 15 points.
Next week is a packed week of action for the Conqs as they will take on two of the three other teams tied with them in first place in the KJCCC. Up next, a road trip to Independence on Wednesday, January 14th, and then back home against Seward County on Saturday, January 17th.
