HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
Western Athletic Conference
At Dodge City
DCHS Field House
Friday
BOYS
Dodge City High School 68,
Great Bend 41
GREAT BEND (5-4, 2-1)
Conner Sell 0 2-2 2, Matt Marshall 0-0 0-0 0, Brock Ibarra 0 0-0 0, Jace Bowman 2-8 2-2 7, Sam Hafner 0 0-0 0, Greg Hildebrand 2 2-2 7, Cameron Casey 3 1-2 10, Jeff Pike 1 1-1 3, Will Gray 0 0-0 0, Dakota Ellis 4 0-0 10, Roderick Frise 1 0-0 2, Nick Warren 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 13-40 8-9 41.
DODGE CITY (5-1, 1-0)
Jonathan Taylor 1 0-0 3, Isaiah Bradshaw 1 0-0 2, Trey Hallman 2 2-4 6, Benito Sotelo 8 0-0 20, Matt Esquibel 4 2-2 10, Adley Davis 0 0-0 0, Alec Schmitt 3 0-2 6, Brandon Howarth 1 0-0 2, Jordan Doan 1 0-0 3, Terell Brown 2 0-0 5, Bruce Campbell 4 3-4 11. Totals 27 7-12 68
Great Bend 16 13 5 7 — 41
Dodge City 16 21 18 13 — 68
Three-point goals — Great Bend 7 (Casey 3, Ellis 2, Hildebrand, Bowman); Dodge City 7 (Sotelo 4, Taylor, Brown, Doan).
BY MACK McCLURE
mmcclure@gbtribune.com
DODGE CITY — The Dodge City High School Red Demons already were without standout guard Rico Hogan on Friday night when they took on Great Bend.
In the early-season Western Athletic Conference showdown at the DCHS Field House, one would think the Panthers had a good shot at the Demons, especially with Hogan in street clothes recovering from a concussion and post player Brandon Howarth and guard Trey Hallman having sub-par games.
Guard Benito Sotelo and post player Bruce Campbell had other ideas for the Demons, the defending WAC champions, who outscored Great Bend 18-5 in the third quarter and rolled to a 68-41 victory.
Howarth finished with just two points, and Hallman scored only six points.
To be sure, the first half was a different story in a game where DCHS improved to 6-1 and 2-0 in conference play while Great Bend dropped to 5-4, 2-1.
As if on cue, the Panthers rode four 3-pointers — two by Cameron Casey and one apiece by Dakota Ellis and Greg Hildebrand — to a 16-all deadlock lead after one quarter. They shot 47.6 percent in the first half, making 10 of 21 shots from the floor, including 6-for-11 on 3-pointers.
“I thought we would play better when our shots were falling early,” Great Bend head coach Chris Battin said. “Usually, your defense really gets going, but (Friday night) we just didn’t have the defensive effort and the commitment there.
“We’ve got to have that against a team like Dodge City.”
Dodge City extended its lead to 37-29 at halftime, and then the dam broke in the second half for the Panthers.
“There were times when we didn’t have our full effort there,” Battin said of his team, “and part of that was that they just took us completely out of our game.
“They played harder than we did. Whether it’s a 30-point ballgame or a two-point ballgame, I still think you have to play hard and play with a lot of pride.”
Casey and Ellis finished with 10 points apiece for the Panthers, who finished 13-for-40 on field goals (32.5 percent) and missed eight of nine from beyond the arc in the second half.
The Panthers are idle until Thursday, when they head to the three-day El Dorado tournament.
