SCOTT CITY — The Great Bend High School boys’ basketball team faced a rough test on Saturday night.
The Panthers had to challenge Scott City, which is ranked No. 1 in Class 4A Division-II in the latest Kansas Basketball Coaches Association poll.
Scott City got out to a solid lead, and Great Bend couldn’t quite recover, falling 51-47.
“They jumped out on us early,” GBHS head coach Chris Battin said. “We were just kind of sluggish. We didn’t shoot the ball well in the first half, and they the ball very well.”
Scott City get out to a 22-11 lead over Great Bend to start things off.
“From then, we just kind of chipped away and chipped away for the rest of the game,” Battin said. “We had a couple of chance to tie things up, but we just couldn’t finish. Overall, it was actually a really good game.”
In spite of the final result, which drops Great Bend to 7-11 overall, Battin said he was happy with his team’s performance.
“I thought they played very hard,” Battin said. “In the first half, we just didn’t shoot the ball well. In the second half, they worked really hard, and started getting some shots to fall.”
Trey Ibarra led Great Bend with 11 points, including a trio of 3-pointers.
“He did an excellent job leading us in the second half when we were trying to get back into it,” Battin said. “He got hot shooting outside when we needed it.”
Great Bend travels to Dodge City on Friday night, followed by a home matchup against Liberal on Saturday.

                                                                 — Kevin Price