HALSTEAD — With a strong defensive effort, the Halstead Dragons raced by the Larned boys Friday 61-42 in a Central Kansas League basketball game.
Larned’s offensive highlights were limited to Jonathan Herter’s 15 points and nine rebounds. Thomas Harmon scored seven. The Indians (3-12, 0-6 CKL) entertain Hoisington Tuesday at home.
“We were not consistent in running our offense,” said Larned coach Jerrod Smith. “At times, we did it right and got good looks, though we missed the shots. At other times we just weren’t all on the same page. We play 12 guys and, perhaps, that’s too many to have any consistency out of our offense. But we’re trying to find that combination that clicks together.”
The Dragons (9-6, 2-3 CKL) were led in scoring by Braden Gerber’s 17 followed by Andrew O’Brien (12) and Kason O’Neal (9). Halstead (9-6, 2-3 CKL) plays Kingman Tuesday.
After holding the Indians to single-digit scoring in both the first and second quarters, resulting in a 27-16 halftime advantage.
Behind the shot-blocking of 6-10 Wyatt Siebel, the Dragons were able to plug up the paint area and make scoring difficult for the Indians. The Dragons pulled to a 10-7 first-quarter lead as they also struggled with their shooting but they warmed up after that and hit 7 of 19 three-point attempts.
Larned struggled to a 13 percent field goal shooting percentage in the first half and finished the game 0 of 8 from the 3-point area.
At halftime, Larned had three field goals and 10 free throws. Even free-throw shooting was a problem for the Indians as they managed 18 of 32. Meanwhile Halstead was shooting 47 percent from the field and 16 of 23 from the charity stripe.

LHS 8 8 14 12 – 42
HHS 10 17 20 14 – 61
LARNED—Johnathan Herter 6 3-6 15, Thomas Harmon 1 5-9 7, Cody Mead 1 4-4 6; Dalton Bright 2 2-3 6; Schartz 1 2-3 4; Damontay Phillips 1 1-4 3; Chance Sanger 0 1-3 1; Totals 12 18-32 42.
HALSTEAD—Gerber 17, O’Brien 12, O’Neal 9, Dalton Kraus 6, Kaden Kraus 5, Seibert 4, Bollig 3, Pitts 2, Talbott 2, Casey 1.