BY JIM MISUNAS
jmisunas@gbtribune.com
The Great Bend Panther basketball team sliced an 8-point deficit to Liberal to 35-33 on Stefan Spray's basket to start the fourth quarter.
Surely, the Panthers would find a way to outlast the last-place team in the Western Athletic Conference before a lively student body and a rocking pep band.
But Liberal converted 11 fourth-quarter free throws for a hard-fought 51-41 basketball victory to spoil the Panthers' Winter Homecoming. The Redskins (5-9, 1-4 WAC) outscored the Panthers 21-12 on free throws, the game's key statistic.
A.J. Ramirez fed passes to Malcomb Wiltshire and Shay Kerr for the Redskins' fourth-quarter baskets. The other 11 points were scored at the charity stripe.
The Panthers forced 15 Liberal turnovers. But they had no defense for Liberal's unguarded free throw shooters.
The Redskins attacked the Panthers' defense and raced upcourt after fourth-quarter turnovers and got fouled. Great Bend converted 3 of 10 field goals with a mix of turnovers in the fourth quarter.
Liberal's full-court and trapping defense delivered 15 Panther turnovers. The Panthers failed to respond to the pressure.
"We didn't take care of the basketball and their pressure bothered us," said Great Bend coach Tim Brooks. "We've got to handle the ball when we're catching the basketball."
The Panthers' court awareness was lacking when ballhandlers were trapped by double teams, creating offensive opportunities.
"We didn't play with our eyes up," he said. "You've got to see what's opening up. We had mismatches on screens that we missed."
Stefan Spray scored 12 points and Sage Koelsch and hard-working Sam Hall each contributed 11 points. The Panthers converted 14 of 35 field goals and misfired from 3-point range with 1 of 13 shooting. Cal Dunekack returned from a stress fracture to score six points.
"Sam 's such a warrior for us because he does everything we ask," Brooks said. "Sam works hard."
Liberal's Embry Williams scored 17 points with a pair of 3-pointers and Ramirez dictated the tempo with 13 points and superb passing and ballhandling.
The Panthers (4-9, 1-3 WAC) journey to No. 4 state-ranked 4A Buhler (9-4) for Tuesday's non-league basketball game.
Liberal 13 7 16 15 — 51
Great Bend 4 16 11 8 — 41
LIBERAL (5-9, 1-4)—Kerr 4-6 2-2 19, Williams 4-13 7-8 17, Ramirez 4-7 5-9 13, Wiltshire 1-3 2-4 4, Lopez 1-4 2-2 4, Miller 0-3 1-2 1, Avalos 0-1 2-2 2, Totals 14-37 21-29 51
GREAT BEND (4-9, 1-3)—Spray 4-10 4-5 12, Sam Hall 47 2-5 11, Koelsch 3-6 5-6 11, Council 0-3 0-0 0, Joseph Moeder 0-0 1-2 1, Streck 0-3 0-0 0, Dunekack 3-6 0-0 6, Totals 14-35 12-18 41
3-pointers—L 2-10 (Williams 2-7, Lopez 0-1, Wiltshire 0-1, Ramirez 0-1), GB 1-13 (Hall 1-1, Dunekack 0-1, Koelsch 0-1, Council 0-3, Streck 0-3, Spray 0-4)
