HOISINGTON — The 2-3 zone defense is a proven way of stopping Hoisington High School’s boys’ basketball team.
Cardinals head coach Kyle Haxton has mentioned it several times in the opening weeks of the season.
On Friday night against Central Plains, Haxton unveiled a way of countering that defense — taking an early lead and stopping the ball at midcourt.
The tactic led to a 38-32 victory for the Cardinals.
“What we were trying to do was execute and try to get a 10-point lead,” Haxton said. “We knew that if we got up to 10 points at some point, we’d pull them out of their 2-3 zone. We dribbled off three minutes and 10 seconds without anything happening on the floor.
“They might call us the cowards for that, but we see a 2-3 zone every night. I want to see somebody try to guard us man-for-man.”
With a 33-25 lead heading into the final quarter, Haxton had point guard Ryan Becker dribble the ball just past midcourt and wait for the Oilers to break its zone defense.
The result was three minutes wasted off the clock before Central Plains head coach Brett Rolfs had his team switch to man defense.
“I just wasn’t ready to switch it to man yet,” Rolfs said. “Not with eight minutes left.”
Cardinals 6-foot-8 center Cody Stetler still led his team with 15 points, in spite of the defense specifically designed to shut him down.
“Stetler is pretty dominant in the paint,” Haxton said. “He’s always been dominant. That’s why we see that zone all the time.”
It was other players that scored in the third quarter that helped Hoisington pull away.
Leading 22-18 at halftime, Anthony Broeder got two points in the paint and rattled in a 3-pointer.
Taylor Crawford scored on a putback, Trent Schremmer hit a deep shot for two points and Steffan Dolechek made a jumper.
In the first quarter, both teams traded baskets before the Oilers took a four-point lead on a pair of free throws from Michael Ryan, a layup from Layne Bieberle and 1 of 2 free throws from Braeden Crites.
However, Hoisington’s Broeder cut the lead to 8-6 before the end of the period.
After Bieberle hit a pair of free throws to start the second quarter, Hoisington went on a 7-0 run that gave it a 13-10 advantage.
Jacob Warnken hit a jumper and got a steal for an easy layup.
Stetler made the second of two free throws, and Schremmer scored two points with a jumper in the lane.

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL

BOYS

At Hoisington
Hoisington Activity Center

Friday

Hoisington 38, Central Plains 32
CENTRAL PLAINS (4-3)
    Layne Bieberle 4 5-6 14, Konner Hickel 3 1-2 10, Joe Barton 0 0-2 0, Michael Ryan 0 2-2 2, Braedon Crites 1 1-2 3, Michael Lamatch 1 0-0 3. Totals 8 9-14 32.
HOISINGTON (5-2)
    Trent Schremmer 3 0-4 6, Cody Stetler 7 1-3 15, Ryan Becker 0 0-0 0, Steffan Dolechek 1 0-0 2, Jacob Warnken 2 0-0 4, Anthony Broeder 3 1-1 8, Taylor Crawford 1 0-0 2, Cody Richter 0 0-0 0, Seth Owen 0 1-2 1. Totals 17 3-10 38.
Central Plains    8    10     7    7  —  32
Hoisington         6    16    11   5  —  38
    Three-point goals — Central Plains 4 (Hickel 3, Bieberle), Hoisington 1 (Broeder). Total fouls — Hoisington 15, Central Plains 13. Fouled out — none.

TMP Marian 61, Larned 48
HAYS — Thomas More Prep Marian pulled away from Mid-Central Activities Association foe Larned in the third quarter on its way to a win.
Leading 28-27, the Monarchs outscored the Indians 10-3 in the third period.
Larned (2-5) was led by Easton Palmer, who finished with 15 points.
Michael Reece added 13 points, and Brayden Smith scored 10.
Larned come back from the break on the road against Southwestern Heights on Friday, Jan. 4.

BOYS

At Hays

Thursday

TMP Marian 61, Larned 48
LARNED (2-5)
    Brayden Smith 3 2-3 10, Grant Unruh 0 0-2 0, Jake Zimmerman 1 5-6 7, Tyler Stelter 0 0-1 0, Isaiah Perez 0 0-0 0, Easton Palmer 6 2-4 15, Michael Reece 3 7-9 13, Zach Wilson 0 1-2 1, Nolan Allison 1 0-1 2, Camryn Bryant 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 17-29 48.
TMP MARIAN
    Tanner Unrein 3 0-0 6, Shane Zimmerman 3 3-4 9, Max Megaffin 1 0-0 3, Ryan Schippers 1 0-0 2, Cameron Fouts 9 56 23, Kade Megaffin 3 1-2 7, Anthony Walters 1 1-2 3, Jordan Gottschalk 2 4-8 8. Totals 23 14-22 61.
Larned           15    12      3    18  —  48
TMP Marian    13    15    10    23  —  61
    Three-point goals — Larned 3 (smith 2, Palmer); TMP Marian (). Total fouls — Larned 19, TMP Marian . Fouled out — Allison.