BY JIM MISUNAS

jmisunas@gbtrinune.com

HAYS – Great Bend’s Ian Premer and Ben Nicholson had a message for the Hays Thomas More Prep Monarchs.

“Dunk you very much.”

After losing to the Monarchs on a controversial last-second foul last year, Premer and Nicholson meant business.

Premer cranked up five slam dunks and Nicholson soared for two dunks. Premer ignited the slam dunk contest for a 15-0 lead. Back-to-back dunks led to a 39-12 lead. His final dunk off a Carter Coombs lob pass spiked a dominating 66-24 rout of the Monarchs.

Coombs slapped Premer’s hand so hard, he had to Taylor Swift it and shake it off.

“I love it. I’m always trying to get to the rim,” Premer said. “You try and get out in transition and dunk it.”

Premer scored a career high 26 points as the game finished with a running clock, setting the tone for Payback No. 2 at Hays High Friday. The Indians ended the Panthers’ season last year with a pair of last-minute 46-42 victories.

The Panthers showed excellent balance with Coombs (10), Maddox Spray (9), Jacob Hall (8) and Nicholson (7) chipping in.

The Panthers (9-4, 0-1 WAC) head to Hays with solid confidence knowing they can beat any team they face.

“It was a total team effort,” said Great Bend coach Kyle Kriegh. “We made them uncomfortable. It starts with deflections and steals. Those dunks get everybody going. It’s nice to see all those assists. We’ve got a lot of guys who can shoot the basketball.”

Thomas More Prep'sJoey Mindrup and Ian Nehls each scored five points.

Great Bend 21 20 14 11 – 66

Hays TMP 7 8 4 5 – 24

GREAT BEND (9-4)—Premer 13 0-0 26, Coombs 3 2-3 10, Spray 4 0-0 9, Hall 3 2-2 8, Nicholson 2 0-0 5, Ohnmacht 1 0-0 2, Reed 1 0-0 2, Kern 1 0-0 2, Dicks 1 0-0 2, Totals 29 4-5 66.

TMP (5-8)—Nehls 2 0-0 5, Brungardt 2 0-2 4, Mindrup 1 2-2 5, Schmeidler 0 3-4 3, Patel 1 2-3 4, Schumacher 0 3-4 3, Totals 6 10-15 24.

3-pointers—GB 4 (Coombs 2, Spray 1, Nicholson 1); TMP 2 (Mindrup 1, Nehls 1).