Big efforts from sophomores Illiwa Baldwin and Tyrone Gordon gave Trevor Rolfs his 100th career win and his first at the Colby Community Building last night as the Beavers rallied for a 66-62 win.
Getting his 100th win was nice, but Rolfs (100-70 at PCC) was more concerned about his team getting a much-needed conference win.
The victory — which wasn’t in the bag until Baldwin hit a free throw with 4.5 seconds left — moves Pratt to 17-6 on the season and 6-3 in Jayhawk West games.
Hutchinson, which beat Seward County 62-48 last night, leads the West with an 8-1 record while Butler is 7-2 in the conference. Seward County and Pratt are tied for third at 6-3, two games ahead of Cloud County and Dodge City.
With Cloud County and Seward County next up on Pratt’s schedule, the Beavers have a chance to really make a move towards the top of the standings, but they’ll need to play better than they did last night.
At Colby, the Beavers struggled to score all night long, particularly from long range.
As a team, Pratt hit just seven of 27 three-pointers, and that included a woeful 0-for-9 by freshman sharpshooter Trae Beck who has been hitting 38 percent of his trifectas.
Add in a 1-for-5 showing by John Rutherford and 1-for-4 shooting from Trent Thomas and the Beavers just didn’t have their normal outside attack.
“They played zone 90 percent of the time, and John, Trae and Trent, who are arguably three of our best four shooters, went two-for-18 from three,” Rolfs said. “They were all good looks. We just could not make shots.”
The Beavers battled back from a 51-44 deficit in the second half, using their defense to spark a 6-0 run that was the turning point in the game.
“They ended up going up seven and then we went full-court press, got ‘em sped up, rattled ‘em and got some turnovers,” Rolfs said. “We probably should have done it earlier.”
Still, Colby had a chance to tie or take the lead in the final 35 seconds.
But Gordon came up with a huge steal under the basket and then hit one of two free throws to make it a three-point game with 18 seconds left.
Pratt’s defense forced Aireus Stephenson — who led Colby with 18 points — to take an NBA-range three-pointer at the other end. It was off the mark, Baldwin grabbed the rebound and was immediately fouled.
With 4.5 ticks remaining, Baldwin missed the first free throw but got the second to fall for a 66-62 lead, effectively sealing the game.
The final minute was indicative of the entire game, as both sophomores came up big in the closing seconds.
“Illi was a monster tonight,” Rolfs said, noting that the 6-11 Australian finished with 24 points and 15 rebounds.
Gordon was scoreless in the first half, but scored 11 points in the second, plus grabbed five rebounds and handed out five assists while turning the ball over just once.
“Our two sophomores were pretty big tonight,” Rolfs said, adding that the two combined to hit 14 of 19 free throws. “I’m glad our sophomores came to play tonight. Our shooters will have better nights. Bottom line, we’re just happy to get out of there with a win.”
Pratt got a boost from freshman Marcus Smith, who hit four of seven three-pointers on his way to 12 points, and freshman Taner Hayes controlled seven of Pratt’s 41 rebounds.
The Beavers (17-6, 6-3) will be back in action Saturday night at the Beaver Dome when they host Cloud County.
The T-birds drilled Barton County 92-68 last night in Concordia, moving to 4-5 in Jayhawk West games.
Pratt is looking for a season sweep of Cloud after winning 69-57 Dec. 9 in Concordia.
The womens game will tip off at 6 p.m., with mens action following at 8 p.m.
Pratt 66, Colby 62
PCC: Illiwa Baldwin 8-15 7-11 24, Marcus Smith 4-7 0-0 12, Tyrone Gordon 2-7 7-8 11, Trent Thomas 3-8 0-0 7, Trae Beck 1-12 2-2 4, Taner Hayes 1-3 1-4 3, John Rutherford 1-7 0-0 3, Jay Valerius 1-1 0-0 2. TOTALS 21-63 17-25 66.
CCC: Aireus Stephenson 6-17 4-6 18, Jordan Michaelson 4-10 7-8 15, Corey Woofter 1-7 4-6 6, Dominic Brewer 2-4 0-0 5, Zach Danner 2-3 0-0 5, Jose Pena-Benjamin 2-4 1-1 5, Regis Schaefer 1-8 3-4 5, Michael Morris 0-6 3-6 3. TOTALS 18-59 22-31 62.
PCC 30 36 — 66
CCC 32 30 — 62
3-point goals — PCC 7-27 (Smith 4-7, Baldwin 1-2, Rutherford 1-5, Thomas 1-4, Beck 0-9, Gordon 0-1), CCC 4-14 (Stephenson 2-6, Brewer 1-2, Danner 1-2). Rebounds — PCC 41 (Baldwin 15), CCC 37 (Michaelson, Morris 9 each). Assists — PCC 9 (Gordon 5), CCC 11 (Brewer, Danner 3 each). Turnovers — PCC 8, CCC 13. Total fouls — PCC 22, CCC 19. Fouled out — Brewer, Rutherford. Technicals — None.
