Panthers’ defensive effort not enough
BY JIM MISUNAS
HUTCHINSON – Great Bend’s Brock Blessing scored and passed to Trent Stueder for a basket. Alex Schremmer followed with a driving shot for a 6-3 lead on Hutchinson High.
For a few minutes, everything worked perfectly for the winless basketball Panthers.
Just as suddenly, everything collapsed for the offensive-starved Panthers, who shot 17 percent the rest of the night.
Hutchinson escaped with a hard-fought 39-29 non-league basketball victory. The Panthers (0-6) made 3 of 16 shots from 3-point range and converted 10 of 45 field goals.
Great Bend (0-6) played terrific, hard-nosed defense all night.
Time-after-time, the Panther pressured ballhandlers, double teamed the post and scrambled for loose basketballs.
But it wasn’t nearly enough. The Salthawks (1-3) earned their first victory with 14 field goals and 15 turnovers.
“We did play good defense. We’ve got to continue to fight and battle,” said Great Bend coach Tim Brooks. “We got some looks and executed things well at times.”
But five field goals over 21 minutes eventually led to frustration and a few defensive lapses.
Brooks didn’t like the fact the lack of offense dictated overall effort and intensity.
“We let not making shots dictate how we played,” Brooks said. “You’ve got to battle through that. We took a couple of bad shots. But we’re not forcing things like we did earlier this season. Our offense was pretty quiet for long stretches. Our pace on offense was not good at times.”
Schremmer led the Panthers with nine points off 3 of 14 shooting. Stueder worked the glass, but finished with five points. Nick Wondra delivered his usual spark with five points off the bench.
Great Bend’s best moment of the night came when the Panthers attacked the glass for several rebound attempts that led to free throw attempts.
Salthawk sparkplug Jacob Cole scored 12 points and Davian Vigil added 10 points. Six-eight Tate Webster provided eight points and exceptional passing out of the post.
The Panthers visit Buhler Tuesday.
GB 9 5 6 9 – 29
HH 14 6 10 9 – 39
GB (0-6)—Schremmer 3-14 2-2 9, Wondra 2-5 0-0 5, Stueder 2-7 1-4 5, Widiger 0-1 0-0 0, Duvall 1-4 0-0 3, Ryan 0-1 0-0 0, Blessing 1-4 0-0 2, Miller 1-3 1-2 3, Kuhlman 0-1 0-0 0, Olivas 0-5 2-2 2, Totals 10-45 6-10 29
HH (1-3)—Cole 5-7 0-0 12, Vigil 3-6 4-6 10, Webster 3-7 2-4 8, Kraus 2-4 1-1 5, Heneha 1-3 0-3, Holmberg 0-1 1-2 1, Davis 0-2 0-0 0, Blake 0-2 0-0 0, Totals 14-33 8-16 39
3-pointers—GB 3-16 (Duvall 1-2, Wondra 1-4, Schremmer 1-5, Miller 0-1, Olivas 0-4), HH 3-9 (Cole 2-3, Henaha 1-4, Blake 0-1, Webster 0-1).
