BY JIM MISUNAS
jmisunas@gbtribune.com

HOISINGTON – Hoisington basketball coach Kyle Haxton had waited weeks for a breakthrough all-round game. The Cardinals delivered with eight 3-pointers and harassing defense that sparked Monday’s dominating 82-56 non-league basketball victory over Phillipsburg.

Mason Haxton ignited a 14-0 start with a 10-point first quarter as the Cardinals forced five early turnovers. The Cardinals’ extended their defense to hold the Panthers to 5 of 23 3-point shooting, which has been a consistent weakness.

“I haven’t seen us play hard in a long time,” Haxton said. “Our defense was incredible that first half. We pushed their offense away from the line. We did a tremendous job defending the 3-point stripe. Mason got off to an incredible start and propelled us to that 14-0 lead.”

Drew Nicholson led with the Cardinals (14-4) with 22 points and Maxon Haxton added 15 points. The Cardinals converted 34 of 27 free throws.

The other missing ingredient was 3-point shooting, which the Cardinals answered with 8 of 20 shooting. Bralen Thompson hit back-to-back 3-pointers and Drew Nicholson and Leyton Haxton added treys in a 16-0 burst for a 34-9 lead. Ryan Woydziak hit a pair of 3-pointers.

“Ryan is a good shooter who could shoot more,” Haxton said. “We got 11 guys scoring tonight. We worked the ball out of Ty Sides’ hands and turned them over.”

Devin Johnson scored 21 points and point guard Ty Sides added 11 points for Phillipsburg (8-11).

Phillipsburg 9 11 15 21 – 56

Hoisington 21 17 21 23 – 82

PHILLIPSBURG (8-11)—Johnson 8-10 5-5 21, Sides 4-13 0-1 11, Keeten 2-6 2-2 8, Joel Ford 2-8 3-3 7, Jeremy Ford 0-2 0-0 0, Leidig 0-1 0-0 0, Rodriguez 1-2 0-0 2, Miller 1-3 2-44, Wyatt 0-2 0-0 0, Davis 0-1 0-0 0, Taylor 1-1 0-0 2, Hanchett 0-1 0-0 0, Meitl 0-0 1-21, Totals 19-50 13-17 56

HOISINGTON (15-4)—Nicholson 4-7 13-14 22, Mason Haxton 7-12 0-0 15, Layton Haxton 2-4 4-4 9, Thompson 3-3 0-0 8, Hanzlick 1-4 6-7 8, Woydziak 2-3 0-0 6, Mooney 2-3 0-0 5,Moore 1-2 1-2 3, Maier 1-1 0—0 2, Chase Robinson 1-2 0-0 2, Richards 1-3 0-0 2, Totals 25-55 24-27 82

3-pointers—P 5-23 (Sides 3-9, Keeten 2-4, Leidig 0-1, Rodriguez 0-1, Davis 0-1, Wyatt 0-2, Joel Ford 0-5); H 8-20 (Woydiak 2-2, Thompson 2-2, Mooney 1-2, L. Haxton 1-3, M. Haxton 1-3, Nicholson 1-4, Moore 0-1, Richards 0-1, Hanzlick 0-2)