HOISINGTON — When the Hoisington High School boys’ basketball team’s 6-foot-8 junior post player, Cody Stetler, got into foul trouble, it was Anthony Broeder who stepped up.
Broeder finished with a game-high 18 points, and the Cardinals routed Ellinwood 54-33.
“He played under control tonight,” Hoisington head coach Kyle Haxton said of Broeder. “This is much more what we saw at the beginning of the year this year. What we’ve been working on with him is just going up strong with the ball between his shoulders. He’s gotten into the habit of keeping the ball out here trying to avoid contact and not getting to the free-throw line.
“He’s a very coachable kid and it really paid off for him tonight.”
Stetler got Hoisington, which is ranked No. 7 in Class 3A in the latest Kansas Basketball Coaches Association poll, started, scoring the first six points until the 5:49 mark in the first quarter, when Stetler got called for his second foul, forcing him to the bench for the remainder of the opening quarter.
“He just had some silly fouls,” Haxton said. “Not going straight up and leaning in. He doesn’t think he’s swatting at it, but he is. Putting that arm out is so tempting when you are so far above the ball from his position.
“It’s something that we’ll continue to work on in practice.”
Once Stetler left the game, Kyle Blakeslee began pulling the Eagles back into the game, scoring 10 points before the close of the first quarter, leaving Ellinwood down 12-10.
Blakeslee scored a team-leading 16 points before fouling out with four minutes remaining.
“Obviously, with the situation with Blakeslee fouling out, that was a damper on us,” Ellinwood head coach Shane Duncan said. “He’s as important to us defensively and on the boards as he is offensively. I thought he played a really good game. They did a great job on him defensively. They really tried to push him out three or four feet behind the 3-point line. He never really did get comfortable there.
“They did a good job keeping us from getting transition points tonight.”
Hoisington responded with a 11-2 run to open the second quarter, with Broeder scoring six points and Derrick Kaiser scoring five points on a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws.
Hoisington was ahead 28-15 after the first half.
Broeder came out in the second half and scored Hoisington’s first six points, keeping the Cardinals ahead and building their lead to 40-22 after three quarters.
Kaiser finished with nine points, and Stetler scored eight.
“Defensively, I thought we did an excellent job with their one-two punch,” Duncan said of Stetler and Kaiser. “The problem is that third punch came in and really laid it on us tonight. But with our effort, I really have no problem with the kids. We just couldn’t get some shots to fall, and we didn’t take advantage of their kids being in foul trouble in the second quarter.”

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
Mid-Central Activities Association

At Hoisington

Friday

BOYS

Hoisington 54, Ellinwood 33
ELLINWOOD (6-11)
     Patrick Ringering 0 0-0 0, Kale Clawson 3 0-0 7, Gavin Vink 1 0-0 3, Kyle Blakeslee 4 8-8 16, Cody Isern 0 1-8 1, Derek Ward 0 0-0 0, Tanner Swank 1 0-0 2, Zak Pflughoeft 0 0-0 0, Garrett Hayes 2 0-0 4, Ian Goering 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 9-16 33.
HOISINGTON (13-4)
     Trent Schremmer 2 0-2 4, Jacob Durrett 0 2-2 2, Cody Stetler 3 2-2 8, Ryan Becker 0 0-0 0, Brooks Linsner 0 0-0 0, Darin Poland 2 0-0 4, Jeffrey Kaiser 0 0-0 0, Anthony Broeder 8 2-2 18, Taylor Crawford 1 1-2 3, Cody Richter 1 0-0 2, Derrick Kaiser 3 2-2 9, Zach Gaddis 2 0-0 4. Totals 23 9-12 54.
Ellinwood                                10    5    7  11  —  33
Hoisington                              12  16  12  14  —  54
     Three-point goals — Ellinwood 2 (Clawson, Vink); Hoisington 1 (D. Kaiser).