EL DORADO — Jace Bowman was busy shooting holes in Wichita Kapaun-Mt. Carmel’s defense during the first half of a first-round game of a midseason high school basketball tournament on Thursday afternoon.
Bowman, a senior long distance threat from Great Bend, dialed up a trio of 3-pointers in the second quarter and finished with 13 first-half points as the Panthers trailed 25-24 at halftime during the 2012 Bluestem Classic.
Great Bend was right there in a tight game, but when the Crusaders concentrated their efforts on containing Bowman, the Panthers had very few answers.
Kapaun (5-5), which held Bowman scoreless the entire second half, also limited the Panthers to only four points in the final three minutes as it registered a 49-42 victory.
“I think they made a good adjustment and they were face-guarding him,” Great Bend head coach Chris Battin said of Kapaun’s defense on Bowman after intermission. “We kind of struggled to get around that.
“(Kapaun) did a good job in the second half taking him out of the game, and we’ve got to find ways to get (Bowman) involved when that stuff happens.”
Great Bend (2-8) falls into a losers’ bracket game today at 4 p.m. against Wichita Trinity (4-5). Circle edged Trinity 32-31 in the second game of the day.
“We need everybody to step up and knock down some shots,” Battin said. “We can’t rely on one guy and we know that, so we’re going to have find ways to come out and score.”
In the first half — especially the second period — the Panthers rode the wave of Bowman’s shooting to only trail by one point at the break.
“He did a good job of shooting the basketball and knocked them in,” Battin said of Bowman. “I thought our guards did a really good job of finding him, too, in our post game, setting screens for him and getting him open.
“He stepped up and hit some big shots, like some of our other guys did late in the game.”
The Crusaders led 13-10 after a sluggish opening quarter.
The Panthers had a 4-0 edge at the 6:32 mark after Bowman hit a baseline jumper and Ethan Henderson scored in the lane.
But Great Bend then went the next five minutes without a point and Kapaun proceeded to score eight straight, the final four by post player Jeremy Lickteig on a free throw and a three-point play.
Brock Ibarra finally ended the drought for the Panthers with a basket at the 1:18 mark to make it 8-6, but Lickteig scored inside and then Toby Baxter drilled a trey to make it 13-8 Crusaders with 0:12 left in the period.
Bowman then hit a jumper with one second left in the period to make it a three-point game.
After Bowman drained his first 3 at the 7:42 mark in the second quarter and Henderson added a bucket, GBHS had a 15-13 lead.
Kapaun went ahead 17-15 with four straight points before Bowman dropped in back-to-back 3s and Connor Sell added a layup for a 23-19 Great Bend lead with four minutes left in the half.
But Kapaun scored the final six points of the half to seize its 25-24 halftime advantage.
The Crusaders clung to a 34-31 lead after three quarters before the Panthers’ Blaise Cain hit a basket and a 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter to keep the Panthers in contention.
Henderson, who finished with 10 points, also made two free throws with 4:17 left to pull GBHS within 39-38.
But Kapaun salted the game away by converting 6 of 9 free throws in the final minutes.
HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
2012 Bluestem Classic
At El Dorado
El Dorado High School
BOYS
Thursday
Wichita Kapaun-Mt. Carmel 49,
Great Bend 42
GREAT BEND (2-8)
Connor Sell 1 0-0 2, Matt Marshall 3 0-0 6, Chad Touslee 1 0-0 2, Brock Ibarra 1 0-0 2, Bryce Beck 0 0-0 0, Jace Bowman 5 0-0 13, Ethan Henderson 4 2-2 10, Blaise Cain 2 0-0 5, Wyatt Bayless 0 1-2 1. Totals 17 4-6 42.
KAPAUN (4-4)
Broden Hullings 2 3-7 7, Toby Baxter 4 0-0 9, Jeremy Lickteig 5 2-7 12, Michael Martin 2 0-0 5, Nick Cook 2 5-6 9, Steven Young 3 0-0 7, Jack Martin 0 0-0 0. Total 18 10-20 49.
Great Bend 10 14 7 11 — 42
Kapaun 13 12 9 15 — 49
Three-point goals — Great Bend 4 (Bowman 3, Cain); Kapaun 3 (Baxter, Cook, Young).
