Grizzlies on the road

Nothing is ever certain in life and winning conference games in the Jayhawk West Division is one of them, especially for the Butler Grizzlies.

After making the five hour long drive to Colby, the Grizzlies' two game winning streak was halted by the Colby Community College Trojans, 69-66.

The Grizzlies spent nearly the entire time playing the catch-up game after trailing for most of the evening.

"We're having a hard time, I guess, relaying the message to these guys that you can't expect to win games in conference play with non-inspiring efforts," said assistant coach Jon Craig. "If you don't prepare yourself to play night in and night out, you're going to put yourself at a risk to get beat and this [Colby] is a team that has been hungry to move themselves up, they've been beaten a few years in a row in conference play and they're ready to move themselves up and if you don't want to fight back, then you're not going to win."

The Grizzlies started out with a little fight in them with guard Marcus Adams, Wichita sophomore, drilling in a 3-pointer to put Butler up early in the game, but it did not last and Colby soon took over the game even though Butler never faded off the radar.

Guard Lane Lindhorst, Wamego freshman, led the team in scoring with 21 points and was 4 of 6 on field goals and was only 1 of 2 from the free throw line. But what really made his evening was his shooting from beyond the perimeter; he was 4 of 5 on 3-pointers.

In terms of free throw shooting, the Grizzlies-out did the Trojans, going 14 of 18 for 77 percent while Colby went 11-22 for 50 percent.

Even though Lindorst was dominant from beyond the arc, the Grizzlies were only 8 of 21 for 38 percent on 3-pointers. Colby was 11-21 for 52 percent.

"They made shots; you have to give them credit for that. They shot better in their home gym and we didn't do a good enough job guarding them and that's the bottom line," Craig said. "If we're going to guard nonchalantly, then we better expect teams to make shots because they're going to make shots especially when they're at home."

Guard Carson Konrade, Spearville freshman, was dangerous for the Trojans, scoring 16 points and drilling in four 3-pointers.

They may be second to last in the conference, but the Colby Trojans have been playing more like a ranked team. They won four of their last five games which included an upset over first place Seward County.

In front 65-60 with less than a minute to play, the Grizzlies could only foul and hope for the best. The Trojans made their free throws and the Grizzlies scored a meaningless 3-pointer as time expired to make it a three point loss.

The Grizzlies are once again below the .500 mark in conference play. They sit at 6-7 in the Jayhawk West Division and are 16-11 overall. The Colby Trojans are still second to last in the Division with a 4-9 conference record but are now right at the .500 mark for their overall record with a 14-14 record.