HOISINGTON — Height was the difference in Tuesday night’s boys’ high school basketball game as Hoisington dismantled Mid-Central Activities Association foe Ellinwood at the Hoisington Activity Center, 79-34.
“Completely dominant size-wise,” Hoisington head coach Kyle Haxton said. “Cody had his way inside, and Anthony (Broeder) did, too. So did Taylor Crawford and Seth Owen when he got in late. It was the same in all three levels tonight.
“Our size was a huge factor.”
The Cardinals’ 6-foot-8 center, Cody Stetler, scored a game-high 28 points, including several off offensive rebounds.
In the first quarter, Hoisington (4-2) was off to the races with several players scoring in transition.
Stetler and Steffan Dolechek each scored six points in the opening period that saw the Cardinals take a 23-11 lead.
“Tonight, our focus was doing what we needed to do right for 32 minutes,” Haxton said. “We haven’t been running our transition game an entire game. We flat out ran the floor tonight for four quarters. There’s times in the past that we’ve let up a little bit.
“That was our goal to not let up, and I think we did that.”
Jacob Warnken finished with nine points as the second-leading scorer for Hoisington. He hit three 3-pointers to give the Cardinals a perimeter threat.
On the flip side, Ellinwood (3-4) struggled to get moving on offense.
“I don’t know what was going on,” Ellinwood head coach Dustin Klassen said. “I told our guys at halftime that we looked like ghosts. We’ve had guys play almost a full game before and get after it, and this time, I’m looking at the clock and people are tugging at their jersey two minutes into the game.”
Tanner Swank emerged as the Eagles’ leading scorer with 10 points.
Blakeslee, who averages 17.5 points per game for Ellinwood, was held to four by the Cardinals defense.
Hoisington hosts Central Plains on Friday afternoon. The junior varsity starts at 3:30 with the varsity games following.
Ellinwood is done until 2013.

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL

BOYS

At Hoisington
Hoisington Activity Center

Tuesday

Hoisington 79, Ellinwood 34
ELLINWOOD (3-4)
    Patrick Ringering 1 0-0 2, Marc Waite 1 0-0 3, Kyle Blakeslee 1 1-5 4, Kyle Jenks 2 0-0 4, Tanner Swank 5 0-0 10, Kaleb Schartz 2 0-0 5, Derek Ward 2 0-2 4, Gavin Vink 1 0-3 2. Totals 15 1-10 34.
HOISINGTON (4-2)
    Trent Schremmer 2 0-0 4, Jacob Durrett 3 0-0 6, Cody Stetler 14 0-2 28, Ryan Becker 3 0-0 6, Steffan Dolechek 3 2-2 8, Jacob Warnken 3 0-0 9, Jeffrey Kaiser 1 0-0 2, Anthony Broeder 2 0-2 4, Taylor Crawford 3 0-0 6, Cody Richter 2 0-2 4, Seth Owen 1 0-0 2. Totals 37 2-8 79.
Ellinwood      11     6     10     7   —  34
Hoisington    23    16    22    18  —  79
    Three-point goals — Hoisington 3 (Warnekn); Ellinwood 3 (Waite, Blakeslee, Schartz). Total fouls — Hoisington 12, Ellinwood 6. Fouled out — none.