With a healthy dose of 3-pointers in the first half, and Wyatt Bryant hitting his stride in the final eight minutes, Great Bend High School’s boys’ basketball team ran away with the game on Thursday night.
The Panthers beat Hoisington 49-34 at Panther Fieldhouse.
“I thought our kids played hard tonight,” GBHS head coach Christ Battin said. “We did such a great job on the glass, which is something we knew we needed to do with their two big kids in there. I thought that was definitely in our advantage.
“We held them to one offensive rebound in the first half. Unfortunately, that one came back for a 3-pointer, but other than that, I thought we did a nice job.”
The win puts the Panthers on a three-game winning streak heading to Liberal tonight for Western Athletic Conference action.
It was a handful of big 3-pointers that made the difference in the early goings of the game.
Dillon Reiser, who missed his first two attempts, hit nothing but net from the right wing to get the Panthers started.
Trey Ibarra and Kody Crosby each sank 3s in the first quarter.
Crosby continued Great Bend’s success from long distance in the second half as the Panthers started to widen the margin.
“They were packing it in on our bigs,” Battin said. “We got some inside-out passes. The guys did a good job knocking them down. It was big for us to get that momentum.”
Shade Wondra, in his first game of the season after suffering a shoulder injury, sank a trey from the left corner to make it 24-14 with 1:04 remaining in the half.
“Nice to have him back in the rotation,” Battin said of Wondra. “Hopefully we can get him some momentum and get him comfortable with.”
A trey from Hoisington senior Trent Schremmer at the buzzer made it 24-17 at intermission.
Great Bend opened the third quarter with a 8-0 run, spanning five minutes, 21 seconds.
Dillon Reiser hit a pair of free throws and a layup after a steal, sandwiching a Nick Warren putback. Jack Westhoff added a layup to cap the run.
The Panthers held a strong lead heading into the fourth quarter, 34-21.
Things opened up even further for Great Bend, leading as much as 21 points in the fourth quarter.
Bryant contributed to the Panthers’ late-game success, scoring seven of his team-leading 10 points.
“He did a nice job,” Battin said. “He hit some big free throws. He was patient underneath. He did a nice job finishing.”

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
Non-Conference

BOYS

Thursday

At Great Bend
Panther Fieldhouse

Great Bend 49, Hoisington 34
HOISINGTON (5-10)
     Trent Schremmer 2 0-0 5, Steffan Dolechek 2 1-1 5, Christopher Wright 1 1-2 3, Ryan Broeder 1 0-0 3, Terry Crawford 0 0-2 0, Seth Owen 8 2-6 18. Totals 14 4-11 34.
GREAT BEND (4-9)
     Jack Westhoff 2 0-2 4, Trey Ibarra 1 2-4 5, Kody Crosby 3 2-2 10, Quinton Elliott 0 0-2 0, Bryce Beck 1 2-4 4, Dillon Reiser 2 2-2 7, Shade Wondra 2 0-0 5, Wyatt Bryant 3 4-5 10, Nick Warren 2 0-0 4. Totals 16 12-21 49.
Hoisington      9     8      4    13  —  34
Great Bend    15    9    10    15  —  49
     Three-point goals — Hoisington 2 (Schremmer, Broeder); Great Bend 5 (Crosby 2, Ibarra, Reiser, Wondra).