ELLINWOOD — A fast-break, dribble-drive offense by Ellinwood High School’s boys kept Russell in foul trouble most of Friday night’s basketball game.
The Eagles won game 50-35. It was the first career win for Ellinwood head coach Dustin Klassen.
“It feels real good to have that one done,” Klassen said. “These guys are off to a great start. It feels great.”
Klassen said that his team came out with the mindset on defense that he wanted to see.
“They came out exactly how I wanted them to,” Klassen said. “Intensity was the word on the board for defense. I told the guys that there might be times when you’re out of position, and so what? It’s the first game of the season, and we just need to get after it.”
Ellinwood was in the double bonus a minute into the second quarter, as Kyle Blakeslee kept driving to the basket and drawing fouls.
However, Blakeslee was 6-for-19 from the free-throw line for 31.6 percent. Blakeslee finished with 15 points.
“We worked in practice, but maybe not enough,” Klassen said. “When you step to the line, it’s confidence. We had some kids come to the huddle with their heads down, ‘I can’t make a free throw.’
“We got to keep the confidence up, and I think we’ll be just fine.”
Ellinwood shot 42 free throws, compared to nine for Russell.
“With all of our cutters and the way we’re trying to push the ball,” Klassen said, “we’re trying to put pressure on the basket. I would’ve loved to make a few more of those free throws, but getting to the line was a good start.”
Cody Isern went 10-for-13 from the free-throw line on his way to scoring a team-high 16 points.
The Eagles were able to jump ahead 30-19 by halftime.
After taking a sizable lead, Ellinwood’s offense slowed down its pace.
“I just wanted them to make smart decisions,” Klassen said. “I thought when we kept trying to attack, we started taking some dumb ones with the lead. I didn’t tell them don’t shoot. I just said lets pass the ball around a little bit and make their defense work a little bit.”

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL

BOYS

At Ellinwood

Friday

Ellinwood 50, Russell 35
RUSSELL (0-1)
    Brandon Bachar 3 0-0 6, Tayton Pennington 1 0-0 2, Clayton Moubry 0 0-0 0, Riley Pfannenstiel 1 0-0 2, Tucker Kaufman 2 0-2 6, Eric Rourke 3 0-0 6, Keltonn Morris 4 1-3 9, Spencer Towery 0 0-0 0, Austin Donovan 1 2-4 2. Totals 15 3-9 35.
ELLINWOOD (1-0)
    Cody Isern 3 10-13 16, Kyle Blakeslee 4 6-19 15, Pat Ringering 4 0-0 8, Kyle Jenks 0 4-8 4, Tanner Swank 2 0-0 5, Kaleb Scharftz 0 2-2 2, Derek Ward 0 0-0 0, Gavin Vink 0 0-0 0, Marc Waite 0 0-0 0, Ryley Ney 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 22-42 50.  
Russell        12     7      6     10  —  35
Ellinwood    19    11    10    10  —  50
    Three-point goals — Russell 2 (Kaufman 2); Ellinwood 2 (Blakeslee, Swank). Total fouls — Russell 25, Ellinwood 15. Fouled out — none.