BY JIM MISUNAS
jmisunas@gbtribune.com
Great Bend's Ian Premer provided the thunder. Point guard Braylon Council used his calm demeanor to disrupt Hays High point guard Jack Weimer.
Premer ignited the Panthers' rousing 64-47 Western Athletic Conference basketball victory with 25 points, including a 13-point first period. Premer delighted the fans with a flying slam dunk to end the first half for a 29-14 halftime lead.
Weimer came in averaging 14 points and leading the Indians' offense at point guard. Weimer made 1 of 9 field goals and committed several turnovers. Council used a steady approach to keep Weimer out of the lane and under control.
"My goal is to always play a strong defensive game," Council said. "My goal was to stay with him and keep him away from where he wanted to drive. He likes to spin into the lane. I tried my best."
Great Bend held the Indians to 7 of 18 shooting with 10 first-half turnovers. The Panthers (4-4, 1-1 WAC) played their finest defensive game of the season with a superb team effort. The defensive steals fueled an effective fast-break offense for transition layups.
"It was a total team defensive effort, but it started with Braylin Council," said Great Bend coach Kyle Kriegh. "Braylon shut their point guard down. He looked uncomfortable."
Premer's 15-point first half surprised the Indians. Jacob Hall chipped in 11 points, Key reserve Cayden Scheuerman supplied the night's next biggest spark with eight points in a minute for a 38-17 lead.
"We hit them with haymakers and kept punching offensively," Kriegh said. "Cayden Scheuerman gave us a big lift in the third quarter. Carter Coombs did a fantastic job moving the basketball for us again tonight. We've got a good group of guys who really played well tonight." .
The Panthers broke a 6-game losing streak against Hays High (4-4, 1-1), the defending WAC champions. Edwin Muller scored 13 points and Dawson Ruder and Chason VanDerWege each added eight points. The Indians had a 20-game WAC winning streak snapped. They shot 19 of 42 with 18 turnovers.
Hays High 8 6 8 25 – 47
Great Bend 20 9 20 15 – 64
HAYS HIGH (4-4, 1-1)—Weimer 1-9 0-1 2, VanDerWege 3-5 2-2 8, Archie 0-1 0-0 0, Muller 5-7 1-2 13, Groen 1-2 0-1 3, Schmidtberger 2-5 0-0 5, Kyzer Fox 3-4 0-0 6, Ruder 3-5 2-2 8, Cano 0-02 0-0 0, Clark 1-2 0-0 2, Totals 19-42 5-8 47
GREAT BEND (5-3, 1-1)—Premer 9-16 4-5 25, Stuhlsatz 2-4 0-0 5, Scheuerman 3-5 0-2 8, Spray 1-2 3-4 6, Council 0-2 2-4 2, Hall 5-7 1-2 11, Coombs 3-7 1-2 7, Reed 0-2 0-0 0, Totals 23-45 11-19 64
3-pointers—H 4-13 (Mukker 2-4, Groen 1-1, Schmidtberger 1-2, Cano 0-1, VanDerWege 0-1, Weimer 0-4); GB 7-14 (Premer 3-5, Stuhlsatz 1-1, Scheuerman 2-4, Spray 1-2, Council 0-1)
