SALINA — This one hurt.
As it turned out, this one hurt twice as much.
In a first-round Class 5A sub-state basketball tournament game, it looked as if the Great Bend High School Panthers had Salina Central right where they wanted them, leading 31-21 entering the fourth quarter.
The Mustangs answered in a big way, going on a 22-12 run in the fourth, capped by Treyton Hines’ basket from the right wing with 2.4 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime knotted at 43.
In a game with countless momentum swings, Great Bend’s Ethan Henderson scored from underneath the basket with 4.4 seconds left in the first overtime, tying the game at 50 and forcing a second overtime.
But Central outscored the Panthers 7-3 in the second four-minute extra session to register a 57-53 victory.
“We did a lot of good things tonight,” said Great Bend head coach Chris Battin, whose team closes its season with a 5-16 record. “Our guys responded well to adversity throughout the game and I’m proud of our kids’ effort. I thought they played extremely hard.
“It’s just unfortunate that the ball didn’t bounce a couple times for us and we missed some free throws and that hurt us a little bit … we had our chances.”
When Central guard Kyle McQuaige hit a go-ahead twisting, double-clutch layup with 3:26 to go in the second OT, it gave the Mustangs a 52-51 lead they refused to relinquish. GBHS closed to 55-53 after junior guard Matt Marshall hit a runner from the left baseline with 13.3 seconds left, but time ran out on the Panthers.
“Those are lessons you have to learn from,” Battin said, “and unfortunately, we’re on the wrong end of that learning lesson again.
“I think our kids believed tonight and I think they probably came out and played our best game of the season. It was just unfortunate we didn’t win the game.”
A slow-tempo first half seemed to play into the Panthers’ favor as they built a 20-13 lead at halftime.
The Panthers rode the wave of four first-half 3-pointers —including a pair from Jace Bowman and one apiece from Marshall and Blaise Cain — en route to their early advantage.
Great Bend, despite going scoreless the final 3:20 of the opening period, seized an 8-5 lead.
Bowman scored the Panthers’ first eight points, hitting a pair of free throws and a pair of 3-pointers.
Marshall scored Great Bend’s first five points of the second quarter. Marshall’s 3-pointer gave the Panthers a 13-7 lead and started a mini-run of 3s by both teams.
McQuaige hit a trey to make 13-10 and Cain dropped in a 3-pointer on the other end at the 3:41 mark to make it 16-10. Hines’ 3-pointer made it 16-13 with 3:06 left in the second quarter.
Post player Wyatt Bayless scored in the lane at the 1:15 mark before teammate Gabe Joiner nailed a basket from the right baseline with 35.7 seconds left in the half, giving Great Bend its biggest lead at seven points.
But Central slowly started creeping back into contention after halftime.
“We didn’t get stops when we needed to and didn’t handle the ball as well as we could have,” said Bowman, a senior and the Panthers’ leading scorer on the season. “We had some big mistakes that cost us and led to their big runs.
“We played well enough to win the game and being so close … it’s a tough way to end the season and my career.”
HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
Class 5A Sub-State Tournament
At Salina
Salina Central High School
BOYS
Wednesday
Salina Central 57,
Great Bend 53, 2 OT
GREAT BEND (5-16)
Connor Sell 1 0-0 2, Matt Marshall 4 1-3 11, Chad Touslee 4 0-0 8, Brock Ibarra 0 0-0 0, Bryce Beck 0 0-0 0, Gabe Joiner 1 0-0 2, Jace Bowman 3 3-4 11, Ethan Henderson 4 1-6 10, Blaise Cain 2 0-0 5, Wyatt Bayless 2 0-0 4. Totals 21 5-13 53.
SALINA CENTRAL (13-8)
Kyle McQuaige 7 5-10 20, Damion Cooper 0 0-2 0, Jackson Rolfs 0 1-2 1, Justin Bengtson 3 0-0 6, Max Kuhn 1 0-0 3, Treyton Hines 5 4-6 17, Mark Vaughn 3 2-4 10. Totals 19 12-24 57.
GBHS 8 12 11 12 7 3 — 53
SCHS 5 8 8 22 7 7 — 57
Three-point goals — Great Bend 6 (Bowman 2, Marshall 2, Cain, Henderson); Central 7 (Hines 3, Vaughn 2, McQuaige, Kuhn). Fouled out — Salina Central (Vaughn); Great Bend (Bowman).
