HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
Non-Conference
At Great Bend
Tuesday’s Game
BOYS
Manhattan 47, Great Bend 28
MANHATTAN (1-1)
Connor Brooks 6 4-6 16, Trey Francis 2 0-0 5, Deante Burton 1 0-0 2, Francis Tyler 3 0-0 6, Ben Jung 0 1-2 1, Keaton Barragar 1 0-0 3, Ryan Wilkinson 2 1-2 5, Jamison Carmichael 0 0-0 0, Brandon Payne 0 1-2 1, Will Kern 4 0-1 8, John Perbeck 0 0-0 0, Jacob Sobering 0 0-0 0, Trey Connet. Totals 19 7-13 47.
GREAT BEND (3-2)
Connor Sell 0 0-0 0, Matt Marshall 1 1-3 3, Jace Bowman 0 2-2 2, Greg Hildebrand 0 0-0 0, Cameron Casey 0 0-0 0, Jeff Pike 2 0-0 4, Will Gray 2 2-4 6, Dakota Ellis1 0-0 3, Roderick Frise 2 0-0 4, Nick Warren 0 0-0 0, Wyatt Bayless 2 0-0 4. Totals 11 5-9 28.
Manhattan 16 11 9 11 — 47
Great Bend 6 6 9 7 — 28
Three-point goals —Great Bend 1 (Ellis 1); Manhattan 2 (Trey Francis 1, Barrager 1).
Great Bend High School didn’t have an answer for Manhattan High’s Connor Brooks.
The Panthers didn’t have an answer to stopping the Indians, either.
Connor Brooks, a 6-foot-3 senior guard, scored a game-high 16 points and had a trio of dunks, leading Manhattan to a 47-28 victory over Great Bend on Tuesday night at Panther Fieldhouse.
“He’s a good athlete and a good basketball player,” Great Bend head coach Chris Battin said of Connor Brooks. “He knows what to do and where to be.
“He’s a good shooter and caused us a lot of problems.”
The son of MHS head coach Tim Brooks, Connor Brooks scored nine first-half points, including a one-handed breakaway dunk in the first half, where the Indians built a 27-12 halftime lead after going up 16-6 after one quarter.
“He’s worked hard at it in the weight room,” Tim Brooks said of Connor Brooks, a returning starter for the Indians from last season. “He’s better with the ball in his hands. He’s able to put it on the ground and go to the basket strong.
“It’s just things he had to work on. He couldn’t be a one-dimensional player and move on to the next level and that’s what he wants to do.”
Power forward Will Kern added eight points for the Indians (1-1), who maximized their possessions with a steady perimeter game.
“He’s very long, has good post moves and can step up and hit the 15-footer,” Tim Brooks said of Kern. “He got us off to a good start tonight. He scored our first four points.”
After Kern’s early buckets, GBHS Roderick Frise had a couple of early baskets as the Panthers trailed 7-6 with 3:53 left in the opening quarter. But the Indians uncorked a 9-0 run to build their 16-6 lead at the end of the period.
Manhattan built its lead to 27-8 during the second quarter, thanks to an 11-2 run at the outset of the second period.
After hitting a lull in the third quarter, Manhattan kept out of arm’s reach by patiently work the ball around the perimeter. The Tribe extended their lead to 36-21 and won going away.
The Panthers, coming off a 40-37 win over Pratt on Friday, couldn’t never get in a rhythm offensively. Will Gray led GBHS with six points.
“I don’t know if it’s just scoring,” Battin said. “We’ve won three games, so we’ve just go to get better.”
“We just didn’t do the little things tonight very well. We didn’t defend very well and we didn’t box out very well. We’ve just got to play better.”
The Panthers will be idle until Jan. 4, when they resume play with a road trip to McPherson.
“It’s not going to make or break our season,” Battin said, “and that’s a good thing.
“We’ve just got to regroup and get better this week (in practice) and give it a run after Christmas.”
