LARNED — For both Hoisington High School and Ellinwood, the boys’ basketball game on Thursday night at Larned Middle School was a learning experience.
Both with young teams running new schemes, the Eagles and Cardinals looked to improve in certain areas of concern.
The Cardinals beat Ellinwood 51-32 in the consolation bracket of the Seventh Annual Gene Keady Basketball Classic.
Hoisington entered the game focused on defense.
“I was much more pleased with our defense,” Cardinals head coach Kyle Haxton said. “Rather than fouling, we actually guarded. We gave up 73 free throws in the first two games combined, and it slows the pace of the game. It drags it out, and you start playing with a lot of bad habits when you get into that situation.
“Our goal was to guard without fouling, and we met that goal. We only had 10 fouls and we got to the line a lot ourselves.”
Eagles head coach Dustin Klassen said he saw some good things from his team as well.
“We’re far from perfect, far from good right now, but we’re starting to get good at some of the things that we’re practicing,” Klassen said. “We’re seeing some progress that’s heading in the right direction.”
Ultimately, it was cold shooting that kept Ellinwood from contending in the end.
The Cardinals kept a 10-point cushion between themselves and the Eagles throughout most of the second half, but pulled away as Ellinwood fouled in the final minutes.
“Going into the game, we knew it would be a good game, a tough one,” Klassen said. “One that we thought we could definitely battle with them.
“In the end, I don’t know how many shots we missed, but we couldn’t buy a bucket, and they did a good job hitting free throws down the stretch.”
Hoisington hit 16 of 20 (80 percent) free throws in the final quarter, 20-for-27 in the game, putting away Ellinwood.
Trent Schremmer led Hoisington with 17 points, and Steffan Dolechek added 15 points.
Marc Waite led Ellinwood, scoring 11 points.

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
Seventh Annual Gene Keady Basketball Classic

BOYS

Thursday

At Larned

Hoisington 52, Ellinwood 32
HOISINGTON (1-2)
     Trent Schremmer 6 5-6 17, Lucas Flagor 0 2-4 2, Steffon Dolechek 4 5-7 15, Christopher Wright 2 2-2 6, Ryan Broeder 1 3-4 6, Terry Crawford 0 0-0 0, Seth Owen 1 3-4 5. Totals 14 20-27 51.
ELLINWOOD (1-2)
     Kaleb Schartz 3 2-2 8, Marc Waite 5 0-0 11, Kyle Jenks 2 0-0 5, Tanner Swank 4 0-0 8. Totals 14 2-2 32.
Hoisington    11    10    12    18  —  51
Ellinwood       4      8      6     11  —  32
     Three-point goals — Hoisington 3 (Dolechek 2, Broeder); Ellinwood 2 (Waite, Jenks).

GIRLS

St. John-Hudson 54, Macksville 27
LARNED — St. John led by 20 points heading into intermission in the consolation bracket of the Seventh Annual Gene Keady Basketball Classic.
The Lady Tigers were led by Alexis Witt, who rang up a game-high 19 points.
Teresa Christie added 13 points for St. John.
Macksville’s Sophie Filbert scored a team-leading nine points.

GIRLS

St. John-Hudson 54, Macksville 27
ST. JOHN (2-1)
     Tia Smith 0 0-0 0, Jessica Hanson 2 0-0 4, Ashlyn Fisher 2 1-2 6, Bailey Burns 2 0-2 4, Tara Christie 1 4-8 6, Maddy Lippoldt 1 0-0 2, Alexis Witt 9 1-6 19, Brandi Hanson 0 0-0 0, Teresa Christie 6 1-2 13. Totals 23 7-20 54.
MACKSVILLE
     Sophie Filbert 3 3-4 9, Melissa Espino 1 0-0 3, Olivia Vosburgh 0 6-8 6, Tara Bunker 2 2-4 6, Emma Stimatze 0 1-4 1, Clara Cross 1 0-0 2. Totals 7 12-20 27.
St. John        20    16    9    9  —  54
Macksville    11     5     3    8  —  27
     Three-point goals — St. John 1 (Fisher); Macksville 1 (Espino).

Larned 39, Kinsley 34
LARNED — Trailing 32-30 heading into the final eight minutes, Larned outscored Kinsley 9-2 to win in the consolation bracket of the Seventh Annual Gene Keady Basketball Classic.
The Lady Indians were led by Tiara Diaz, who scored 18 of her game-high 19 points in the first half. She finished with five 3-pointers.
Alysa Byrum was Larned’s No. 2 scorer with six points.

Larned 39, Kinsley 34
KINSLEY
     Paige Herrmann 1 1-5 3, Amber Espinosa 5 2-4 13, Scout Frame 1 0-0 2, Alex Herrmann 3 0-1 7, Aria Ordaz 1 1-4 3, Kate Gleason 1 0-0 2, Clarissa Holguin 1 0-4 4. Totals 14 4-18 34.
LARNED (2-1)
     Allison Aldrich 1 0-4 3, Roxy Foster 1 1-4 3, Shaylene Shepherd 1 0-2 2, Alysa Byrum 3 0-0 6, ShyAnn Robison 0 1-2 1, Tiara Diaz 6 2-4 19, Jessi Johnson 1 3-5 5. Totals 13 7-21 39.
Kinsley    14      7    11    2  —  34
Larned     13    13     4    9  —  39
     Three-point goals — Kinsley 2 (Espinosa, A. Herrmann); Larned 6 (Diaz 5, Aldrich).