HOISINGTON — With the aid of the 3-pointer, the Great Bend High School boys’ basketball team blasted Hoisington 56-37 on Tuesday night at the Hoisington Activities Center.
“It’s a big win,” Great Bend head coach Chris Battin said. “You know, our kids played hard and that’s what’s most important. That’s a really good basketball team, Hoisington has.”
Hitting 8 of 16 from beyond the arc, the Panthers grabbed hold of the game right out of the gate.
“It’s just kind of one of those deals when you pack the lane, you got to bring them out a little bit,” Battin said. “Tonight, we were hitting. It’s important to do that. I felt like our guys were just kind of jacked and ready to go.”
Hoisington’s Cody Stetler opened the game with a field goal from under the basket, something that would be expected of a towering 6-foot-8 sophomore against a team who’s tallest player stands 6-5.
However, those were the only two points Stetler got in the game, and it became apparent that Great Bend’s perimeter shooting was going to give them the edge.
Greg Hildebrand, who scored 13 points in the encounter, hit a jumper at 6:49 of the first quarter to spark a 14-2 run that lasted until the 3:01 mark.
In that span, Cameron Casey began to heat up from long distance.
Casey drained two 3s in the run and finished the first quarter 3 of 4 from three-point range. Casey’s only miss came with seven seconds left in the quarter.
Casey finished with a game-high 14 points, including hitting 4 of 5 3-pointers.
“(Casey) did a great job,” Battin said. “He found himself open. He spotted up, ready to shoot it and knocked them down tonight. That’s what you need out of a guard, and he did a great job.
“You know, another thing I liked is that he didn’t force the issue. He had a couple other I think he could have taken, but gave it up inside to our open post players so that shows maturity and he did a great job.”
After taking an 18-8 lead in the first quarter, Will Gray began to widen the margin in the second with his perimeter shooting.
He hit a pair of 3s from the left wing, and Dakota Ellis, who finished with 11 points, hit a 3 and a 2-point field goal to give the Panthers a 29-16 lead at halftime.
Luke Becker led the Cardinals with eight points, including 4 of 5 from the free-throw line.
Ryan Bieberle scored seven points for Hoisington.
“We played the way we played the other night,” Hoisington head coach Kyle Haxton said. “No execution, total lack of discipline on the floor and hopefully we can get things turned around for the postseason.”

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
At Hoisington
 
BOYS
Great Bend 56, Hoisington 37
 GREAT BEND
     Matt Marshall 0 0-0 0, Cameron Casey 5 0-0 14, Jeff Pike 1 0-0 2, Will Gray 2 0-4 6, Dakota Ellis 5 0-0 11, Roderick Frise 1 1-1 3, Wyatt Bayless 0 0-0 0, Connor Sell 1 0-1 2, Brack Ibarra 1 0-0 2, Sam Hafner 1 1-2 3. Totals 21 6-13 56.
HOISINGTON
Trent Schremmer 1 0-0 2, Ryan Bieberle 3 0-0 7, Cody Stetler 1 0-3 2, Brady Demel 1 1-2 4, Anthony Broeder 1 2-3 6, Derrick Kaiser 1 0-0 3, Luke Becker 2 4-5 8, Taylor Crawford 0 0-0 0, Dustin Broeder 1 3-4 5. Totals 12 10-17 37.
Great Bend 18    11    14    13   —  56
Hoisington    8     8      7     14   —  37
     Three-point goals — Great Bend 8 (Casey 4, Gray 2, Hildebrand, Ellis); Hoisington 3 (Bieberle, Demel, Kaiser).