Great Bend’s basketball team witnessed the future for Hays High Indians, and the future is very bright.
Hays High junior Isaiah Nunnery made a splash with 23 points and four 3-pointers to ignite the Indians past Great Bend 65-40 in Tuesday’s Western Athletic Conference basketball game. The Indians spoiled the Panthers’ home basketball opener after six straight road games.
Nunnery scored 11 first-quarter points and drilled a trio of 3-pointers for a 15-4 lead. Keith Dryden ended the first half with a 3-pointer for a 30-14 lead and Nunnery drilled a 3-pointer to start the second half. Nunnery’s steal and breakaway layup led to a 48-25 lead in the third quarter.
Nunnery had plenty of offensive help. Sharpshooter Cash Hobson also drilled four 3-pointers and scored 14 points. All-league 6-foot-7 standout Brady Werth dominated the paint with 12 points and seven blocked shots. Werth is ranked fifth all-time on the Hays High scoring charts.
“They are a hard team to defend because they’ve got the kid guy inside and good outside shooters,” said Great Bend coach Chris Battin. “They exploited our defense inside and outside. Obviously, Werth is one of the best players in the league. But Nunnery gives them another one of the best point guards in the WAC. We knew they were capable of shooting the 3-pointer like that.”
The Indians converted nine 3-pointers to outscore the Panthers 27-12 from long range.
“If you push the ball inside, you’ll always shoot the ball better from the outside,” said Hays High coach Rick Keltner. “We moved the basketball really well tonight.”
No. 5 state-ranked Class 4A Hays High (7-1, 2-0 WAC) is the defending league champion. Great Bend dropped to 1-6 overall and 0-2 in league play heading to Dodge City Friday. Great Bend pushed the Indians in a 54-50 setback in the Hays Shootout in the second game of the year.
“Great Bend played tougher than us that first time,” Keltner said.
Great Bend had its moments of excellent play. Supersub Jacob Murray got the Panthers’ student crowd roaring with four 3-pointers and 12 points. Wyatt Bryant gave away gave away five inches inside, but battled hard inside with eight points and several hustle plays.
“Jacob Murray has shown that capability, and we were really pleased he took advantage,” Battin said. “The nice thing is Jacob got into a shooting rhythm and got himself ready to shoot the basketball. His teammates did a nice job finding him.”
Shade Wondra, Mr. Hustle, got the Panther crowd roaring a couple of times by scrapping for loose balls and driving into the heart of the Indians’ defense.
Battin  said there were moments where the Panthers executed its offense fairly well, but the Indians’ physical  style pushed them out of their offense.
“When we executed our offense, we scored 70 percent of the time, but overall we didn’t execute very well,” he said. “We had good shots and opportunities. But their pressure pushed out of what we wanted to do at times.”


HAYS HIGH 65, GREAT BEND 40
Hays High                             15 15 22 13 — 65
Great Bend                            4  10 17  9  — 40
HAYS HIGH —Nunnery 8-12 2-3 23; Hobson 5-6 0-0 14; Werth 5-6 2-4 12; Young 1-4 0-1 2; Winter 0-0 1-2 1; Dryden 1-8 0-0 3; Berens 4-5 0-0 8; Swayne 0-0 2-2 2; Totals 24-42 8-14 65.
GREAT BEND — Murray 4-5 0-0 12; Bryant 3-6 2-2 8; Wondra 3-10 0-0 6; Mauler 0-1 0-0 0; Sullivan 0-1 0-0 0; Smith 2-2 0-0 4; Crosby 3-7 0-0 6; Ibarra 2-9 0-0 4; Bayse 0-1 0-0 0; Totals 17-45 2-2 40.
3-point goals—HH 9-15 (Nunnery 4-4, Hobson 4-4, Dryden 1-6, Young 0-1); GB 4-8 (Murray 4-4, Sullivan 0-1, Ibarra 0-2, Crosby 0-1).