Three Garden City High School boys basketball players were honored by the Western Athletic Conference as well as Buffaloes head coach Jacy Holloway.
The Buffs, who just concluded the fifth-most successful season, record-wise, in school history with a 17-5 record, had two players – senior Kyler Lamb and junior Carlos Acosta – chosen to the all-WAC first team of five players from the five participating league schools.
Holloway, completing his ninth season at the Buffs’ helm, was voted the Coach of the Year after guiding the Buffs to a 7-1 WAC record to win the league crown by three games over Hays, Dodge City and Great Bend. Coaches are permitted to nominate their players, but cannot vote for one of their own players in the balloting for first and second team choices.
Senior Jarrod Springston was also recognized, being chosen to the second team.
Acosta was the team’s leading scorer for the season, averaging 12.3 points per game, while gathering 2.5 rebounds, handing out 2.1 assists and averaging 1.1 steals per game. He shot 79.4 percent from the free throw line (54 of 68). Lamb was the team’s third-leading scorer at 11.7 points per game, but averaged 12.5 points in WAC play, and 14.5 over his final five league contests. He was the team’s leading rebounder at 6.8 per game, and was the top 3-point shooter, hitting 40.8 percent from behind the arc. He also shot 75 percent from the free throw line.
Springston was right up there in offensive numbers, too, averaging 11.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, 1.4 assists while shooting 46.3 percent from the field. He also averaged 70 percent from the free throw stripe.
Holloway completed his most successful season in 9 years guiding the Buffs, and he now has compiled a 106-92 won-loss record (.535 percentage). In his nine seasons, the Buffs have recorded five winning records and qualified for the Class 6A state tournament twice. His team this year just missed earning a ticket to the state tournament, falling to Lawrence High, 56-51, in the sub-state championship game in Lawrence on March 1.
The first team was comprised of WAC Player of the Year Noah Sowers (Sr.) of Dodge City; Alex Schremmer (Jr.) of Great Bend; Tradgon McRae (Sr.) of Hays and Lamb and Acosta. Joining Springston on the second unit was Brody Sumner (Jr.), of Liberal; Adrian Mendoza (Sr.) of Dodge City; Dalton Miller (Jr.) of Great Bend; and John Johnson (Jr.) of Dodge City.
Garden City High School 