BY JIM MISUNAS
jmisunas@gbtribune.com
You know that Premer kid at Great Bend is pretty special.
Panther Alec Premer enjoyed the type of breakout game that Great Bend coach Kyle Kriegh predicted when the basketball season started.
Premer pitched a perfect game making eight consecutive field goals and four free throws for a flawless 21-point night that sparked a shocking 91-66 rout of Dodge City Tuesday.
"It's been a fun ride with my brother (Ian Premer) giving me tips," Alec said in a radio interview. "It was fun. The more you play, the more the team trusts you to get you the ball. It's been awesome growing in my role."
The Fieldhouse was rocking from start-to-finish thanks to a perfect offensive start. Great Bend scored on an unbelievable 16 consecutive possessions in the first quarter. When the Panthers missed four times, they converted second-chance points four times for a shocking 31-15 first quarter lead.
Great Bend's perfection ended when Daxton Minton drew an offensive foul on the final play of the first quarter.
"We were a well-oiled (offensive) machine," Kriegh said. "Alec had a great first-half. We want to shoot high percentage shots and get all our guys shooting layups. We played inside-out. We'll keep working."
Jacob Hall scored 20 points with Cooper Ohnmacht (12) and Tavon Stroup (11) hitting double figures with Minton (9) and Jaxon Wondra (8) one score away from getting six players in double digits.
The home crowd's two loudest roars were reserved for Ohnmacht and "Instant Offense," Eli Contreras.
Ohnmacht's flying slam dunk got the Panthers' student crowd off their feet. When Contreras drilled a step-back 3-pointer, it provided a perfect ending.
Kriegh crafted a flawless game plan with a fast pace, quick sets and flawless passing and picks away from the basketball. The Panthers converted 31 of 45 field goals (69%), 5 of 8 on 3-pointers (62%) and 24 of 37 free throws (65%).
Dodge City's Ty Scheck torched the Panthers for 27 points off 9 of 15 sharpshooting. The Panthers (10-8, 3-1 WAC) earned the last laugh when Daxton Minton and Javon Price stripped Scheck on back-to-back fourth-quarter steals.
Kriegh's tactic of starting with a trapping defense near half-court paid dividends when steals and deflections sped up Dodge City's offense and led to several transition scores.
The Red Demons (9-9, 1-3 WAC) converted 20 of 48 field goals (42%) and 11 of 21 on 3-pointers (52%).
Dodge City 15 17 21 13 — 66
Great Bend 31 27 22 21 — 91
DODGE CITY (9-9, 1-3)—Scheck 9-15 (3-6) 6-8 27; Lembright 5-13 (5-10) 1-2 16; Ochs 2-6 4-4 8; Schulte (2-3) 0-0 6; Presley 1-1 0-0 2; Norris (0-1) 2-4 2; Woods 0-1 0-0 0; Rivero 0-3 0-0 0; Smith 0-4 0-0 0; Mollison 0-0 2-2 2; Totals 20-48 (11-21) 15-20 66
GREAT BEND (10-8, 3-1)—Alec Premer 8-8 (1-1) 4-4 21; Jacob Hall 5-11 (0-2) 10-13 20; Ohnmacht 5-8 (0-1) 2-4 12; Stroup 4-5 (1-1) 2-2 11; Minton 2-3 (1-1) 4-10 9; Jaxon Wondra 3-5 2-2 8 Price 3-3 0-2 7; Contreras (1-1) 0-0 3; Gavin Wondra 0-1 0-0 0; Totals 31-45 (58) 24-37 91
