HOISINGTON – It’s hard to imagine that Pratt High went nearly eight minutes without a 3-pointer.
But when Jacob Kurz nailed Pratt’s first 3-pointer, it was the harbinger of things to come. Kurz’s 3-pointer handed Pratt a 15-13 lead after one quarter.
Kurz converted all four 3-pointers and Pratt drilled eight of 10 3-pointers to roll past Hoisington’ High’s boys 66-34 in Tuesday’s Central Kansas League basketball opener.
Pratt (2-4, 1-0 CKL) had lost to the Cardinals 56-53 when the teams met Dec. 19 at Pratt.
“Jacob also hit four 3-pointers in the JV game,” said Pratt coach David Swank. “It was definitely his night. Every one of our 3-pointers was a good shot because we worked for that shot.”
The Greenbacks also got the job done inside behind 6-4 sophomore Samson Kohman, who hustled for 14 points and hard driving Derek Barnard scored 15 points.
“Our biggest advantage is we took good shots tonight, inside and outside,” Swank said. “Our goal was to get better and we had nine good practices since we started again.”
Hoisington (2-4, 0-1 CKL) received a solid effort from standout scorer Steffan Dolechek, who worked hard for his 13 points. Seth Owen chipped in seven points off 2 of 8 shooting, but no one else had more than four points.
“Our biggest issue was we didn’t play defense until the offensive player caught the basketball,” said Hoisington coach Kyle Haxton. “We knew Pratt’s players could shoot the basketball. We had not seen Jacob Kurz at Pratt. but we knew he shot it well earlier in the night. By the time, we started to play defense it was too late because Pratt’s players were in the spots ready to shoot the ball. Defensively, we were a step behind all night.”
Haxton’s worst fears were realized when a 1-4 Pratt team that had not performed well played its best basketball of the young season.
On the other hand, the Cardinals struggled against the Greenbacks’ size inside.
“We didn’t make shots, and when you’re struggling on offense, sometimes it goes over to your defense,” Haxton said. “They were scoring from all angles.”
Pratt outscored the Cardinals 24-3 from 3-point range. Pratt outscored the Cardinals 30-14 in the second half. The Cardinals made four of 20 shots after halftime.