HOISINGTON — The Barton County Showdown turned out to be a big-time bummer for Great Bend High School in its rivalry game with the Hoisington Cardinals.
Cody Stetler, a 6-foot-8 senior center, scored a team-high 14 points, leading Hoisington to a 50-44 victory over the Panthers on Tuesday night at the Hoisington Activities Center.
“We’ve been playing them since my sophomore year,” said Stetler, a Houston Baptist University signee. “We lost to them here and lost to them at their place.
“We finally got a win this year. It’s a huge win, being rivals, only 10 miles apart. Them being a Class 5A team and us a 3A, it really helps us out and maybe puts us on the map a little bit.”
Hoisington, unranked and now 12-2 on the season, built a 29-15 halftime lead and survived a fourth-quarter comeback bid by the Panthers (5-8), who could get no closer than 49-44 on Brock Ibarra’s fifth 3-pointer with 10 seconds remaining.
“His presence was definitely felt,” Great Bend head coach Chris Battin said of Stetler. “He’s big inside when they needed him and blocks a lot of shots.
“He creates a lot of intimidation. He got some big buckets for them and really dominated the first half. He’s a big reason they won.”
Hoisington scored the final six points of the first quarter for a 15-8 lead, and then used a 5-0 run at the outset of the second period to build a 12-point edge.
The Cardinals extended their lead 29-15 at halftime, with Stetler scoring nine first-half points and 6-4 senior forward Anthony Broeder scoring six of his 10 points before intermission.
Gabe Joiner’s 3-pointer at the 3:06 mark trimmed Hoisington’s early lead to 9-8, but the Panthers weren’t heard from again the remainder of the first quarter.
The Cardinals led 20-8 at the 6:07 mark on Ryan Becker’s driving layup, and Great Bend’s Bryce Beck scored on a bank shot off a drive to the hoop to make it 20-10 with 5:40 left before halftime.
Stetler answered with a basket to push the margin back up to 22-10 before the Panthers’ Josh Lutz’s baseline jumper made it 22-12 at the 2:20 mark.
But the Cardinals went on a 7-3 run during the final two minutes of the half to go ahead by a large margin at the break.
“We dug ourselves a big hole and that’s because they beat us in every phase of the game tonight,” Battin said. “In the first half, they were the aggressor and they took the ball to the rack.
“They rebounded much better than we did, and we just got our butts kicked in every facet. We’ve got to fix those things. You cannot get down 15 points to a good team like that.”
Stetler opened the third quarter by scoring five of the Cardinals’ first seven points, giving them a 36-23 lead.
“We had everyone step up,” Stetler said. “Not one or two people. The whole team contributed and we played our game.”
Lutz hit a jumper from the free-throw line and then hit a layup on Great Bend’s next possession to carve the margin to 36-27.
But Hoisington’s Trent Schremmer’s basket from the wing with 50 seconds left in the period gave the Cardinals a 38-27 lead entering the final eight minutes.
A basket from Ethan Henderson and a steal and layup by Beck helped GBHS get within 39-34 with 5:47 remaining.
But the Cards’ Steffan Dolechek scored inside and Becker made two free throws with 5:20 left to push the margin back up to 43-34.
Great Bend got within 45-39 with Ibarra’s fourth 3-pointer at the 3:07 mark, and 49-44 after his fifth trey.
But that’s as close as it would get.
GBHS returns home on Friday night to host Liberal in Western Athletic Conference action. It will be Homecoming.
HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
Non-Conference
BOYS
Tuesday
At Hoisington
Hoisington Activities Center
Hoisington 50, Great Bend 44
GREAT BEND (5-8)
Matt Marshall 2 1-1 5, Brock Ibarra 5 0-0 15, Bryce Beck 4 0-0 8, Dillon Reiser 0 0-0 0, Gabe Joiner 2 0-0 6, Ethan Henderson 1 0-0 2, Shade Wondra 0 0-0 0, Wyatt Bayless 0 0-0 0, Josh Lutz 3 0-0 6, Nick Warren 1 0-0 2, Trey Ibarra 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 1-1 44.
HOISINGTON (12-2)
Trent Schremmer 1 0-2 2, Cody Stetler 6 1-2 14, Ryan Becker 2 5-8 9, Steffan Dolechek 1 3-6 5, Jacob Warnken 2 2-3 6, Tyler Jordan 0 0-0 0, Anthony Broeder 5 0-2 10, Taylor Crawford 2 0-0 4. Totals 19 11-23 50.
Great Bend 8 7 12 17 — 44
Hoisington 15 14 9 12 — 50
Three-point goals — Great Bend 7 (Ibarra 5, Joiner 2); Hoisington 1 (Stetler). Total fouls — Great Bend 19, Hoisington 8. Fouled out — None.
