SNYDER – No. 7-ranked Garden City Bearkats advanced to the Region II-1A final with 54-34 win over No. 20 Munday during the regional semifinal, Friday at The Coliseum in Snyder but fell short of making the State Tournament after falling to Benjamin in the Finals.
Garden City was dropping dimes and making almsot every shot from the start of the game. The Bearkats seized the momentum early against Munday, racing out to a 20-2 lead after one quarter.
The Bearkats continued the hot play in the second quarter and went into halftime with a convincing 38-8 advantage.
Munday’s offense started to find its groove in the second half but the hole was too deep to climb out of and Garden City rolled 54-34.
Texas Brinkley and Julio Talamantes each led Garden City with 17 points, while Mason Walker and John Lopez each contributed with eight.
Kamdyn Roe and Blain Walts tossed in two points each.
The Bearkats advanced to play in the regional final, for the first time since 2007, against No. 19 Benjamin Benjamin beat No. 4 Irion County 67-52 in the other regional semifinal game.
Garden City looked to keep the momentum rolling against Benjamin as they had won their four playoff games by an average margin of 25.5 points. Unfortuanetly, the playoff run came to an end on Saturday with a 59-52 loss.
Benjamin sophomore guard Grayson Rigdon poured in a game-high 44 points to lead the Mustangs (21-1) to their first state tournament appearance.
Benjamin also had a long playoff run in football as the Mustangs won the Class 1A Division II state championship.
Garden City ends its season at 34-6.
This was a close game early as Benjamin only led 14-13 after the first quarter.
But then Rigdon led an 18-point second quarter for the Mustangs with 14 of his 21 first-half points coming in that period, as Benjamin took a 32-20 lead at the half.
The Mustangs led 48-32 after three quarters before the Bearkats made a run in the final quarter to close the gap.
Texas Brinkley led the Bearkats with 19 points, Julio Talamantes had 13, John Lopez had eight, Mason Walker added seven and Kamdyn Roe chipped in with five.