Seward Men Drop Another Nailbiter to Close Regular Season, Honor Sophomores

LIBERAL, Kan. – The Dodge City Conquistadors took their first lead of the second half with 19 seconds to go as the Seward County Saints saw a seven-point lead with 1:40 to play fizzle in a 75-74 loss at the Greenhouse on Wednesday evening.

The Saints honored their seven sophomores in a pregame ceremony. Awit Mamer, Quincey Kidd, Lyna Brooks Jr., Lucas N'Gombo, Brevyn Coleman, JJ Chapman and Joel Turay were joined on the floor by family, friends and coaches.

Seward (18-12, 13-11 KJCCC) led for 34:21 of game time while Dodge City (20-10, 16-8) held a lead for just three minutes. The loss did not impact Seward's spot in the standings as tiebreakers allowed them to finish fifth in the league and earn the No. 5 seed in the upcoming NJCAA Region 6 Tournament. Seward will host the 12-seeded Colby Trojans on Saturday at 6 p.m. in The Greenhouse. The win for the Conqs vaulted them into the three-seed. They hold a first-round bye in the tournament.

The one-point loss for the Saints is their fifth in conference play by three points or less. They fall to 0-2 on the season vs. the Conquistadors after losing 79-77 on the road on Jan. 17th.

In what was a rough shooting day for Seward (25-74, 33.8%), three-pointers kept them in the lead for most of the game, as they knocked in 12 triples, shooting 12-36 (33.3%) from distance. Dodge City was 5-19 from deep (26.3%) but shot 41.4% (24-58) from the field and doubled up Seward in free throw attempts, shooting 22-32, compared to 12-16.

Dodge City won the rebounding battle 48-40 while Seward forced 14 turnovers to 10 of their own.

The Conqs' Derrick Rivers led all scorers with 25 points to go with seven rebounds. Wesly Rosa pulled down 11 rebounds and had eight points.

Seward was led by Lucas N'Gombo's 16 points and eight rebounds. RJ McKinnie chipped in 13 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals off the bench. Brevyn Coleman, Awit Mamer, and Lyna Brooks Jr. each had 10 points while Brooks Powers led Seward with five assists.

The Saints battled back in the first half after finding themselves in a 14-7 hole seven minutes in. They used a late 14-4 run to claim a 31-28 lead and took a 39-30 lead to halftime after McKinnie drilled a three with 24 seconds in the half. The 14-4 run turned into a 22-6 run to close the second half.

Dodge City outscored Seward 45-35 in the second half as they shot 53.8% (14-26) from the field. Seward led by 12 after Quincey Kidd opened the half with a three. A McKinnie jumper in the lane made it 52-41 Seward five minutes in. Dodge trimmed Seward's lead to two with 5:43 to play but the Saints fought the Conqs off, seeing the lead go back up to eight with three minutes to go. A McKinnie layup with 1:40 to play made it 74-67 but it turned out to be the Saints last bucket of the game. Turnovers down the stretch helped Dodge City back into the game as they took a 75-74 lead with 19 seconds to spare.

Seward got two looks to win the game in the final seconds. McKinnie missed a layup, but Coleman got the offensive board before calling a timeout with just over a second to play. The Saints had an open look at a layup out of the timeout but Coleman was too strong as the ball hit the back board and time expired.