BY JIM MISUNAS

jmisunas@gbtribune.com

After two games without all-stater Ian Premer, it's painstaking to see how much the Great Bend Panthers miss their standout power player.

Unbeaten Pratt handed the Panthers their third consecutive loss 48-41 to spoil Great Bend's home basketball opener Friday.

If you believe Premer is worth his 23-point average, you'd be correct.

When Premer (23 ppg) played in five games, the Panthers averaged 69 ppg. Minus Premer's 23 point average, Great Bend has averaged 46 points, 23 below its season average. 

For the second consecutive game, the Panthers missed Premer's presence at both ends of the court.

Pratt's 6-foot-6 Arley Morrell enjoyed a strong performance with 26 points.

Pratt 11 14 15 18 — 48

Great Bend 13 13 4 11 — 41

PRATT (6-0)—Morrell 11-19 4-6 26; Strong 3-10 (1-3) 3-6 10; Titus 4-9 (1-3) 0-0 9; Barker 1-7 0-0 2; Pore 0-0 0-1 0; Schmidt (0-1) 0-0 0; Thibault (0-1) 0-2 0; Liggett 0-0 1-2 1; Lara 0-3 (0-1) 0-0 0; Totals 19-51 (2-9) 8-17 48

GREAT BEND (4-3)—Jacob Hall 8-18 (1-6) 2-5 21; Ohnmacht 3-9 (0-1) 0-0 6; Minton 3-6 (0-1) 0-2 6; Stroup 2-4 0-2 4; Wondra 1-2 0-0 2; Alec Premer 0-4 (0-3) 0-0 0; Fanshier 1-1 0-0 2; Totals 18-44 (1-11) 2-9 4