BY BUDDY TABLER
Special to the Tribune
LARNED – Larned’s boys outscored Halstead 34-12 after halftime for a dominating 58-30 basketball victory over winless Halstead in Friday’s Central Kansas League game.
A balanced offense featured Brady Hope (11), Jack Stelter (10), Layton Crosby (9), Dillan Smith (8) and Ethan Haas (8). Larned converted 20 of 44 field goals for 45% and made 13 of 25 free throws. Larned (6-10, 1-5 CKL) travels to Hillsboro Tuesday.
Larned ended a five-game losing streak, all of the losses being close games that were winnable. It was Winter Royalty night for Larned as Queen Paisley Lovesee and King Jacob Grosfield were presented to the crowd.
Grosfield actually suited up for the game, the first time in his 4-year career. He scored five points in the fourth quarter to the crowd’s delight. Grosfield has served as the basketball team’s student manager for four years.
“We regrouped at halftime and executed better in the second half,” said Larned coach Jerrod Smith. “It was a good win for us after five close losses.”
A slow-paced first quarter ended with Halstead having an 11-9 edge. Larned’s full-court defense outscored Halstead 15-7 for a 24-18 halftime edge. Both teams shot 50% from the field in the first half. Halstead converted four 3-pointers to stay close.
Larned forced Halstead into 12 second-half turnovers which keyed the big surge. Halstead’s 3-point percentage tumbled and the Dragons fell further behind.
“We were impatient in the first half and it led to some mistakes, both offensively and defensively,” coach Smith said.
Halstead (0-16, 0-6 CKL) made 10 of 27 field goal attempts and three of seven free throws. Dylan McDonald scored 11 points. Eli Gerber and and Jackson Swift each added six points.
Halstead 11 7 6 6 – 30
Larned 9 15 15 15 – 58
HALSTEAD (0-16, 0-6)—McDonald 3 2-2 11, Gerber 2 0-2 6, Swift 2 1-2 6, Farmer 2 0-1 5, Hill 1 0-0 2, Totals 10 3-7 30
LARNED (6-10, 1-5)— Hope 5 0-1 11, Stelter 1 8-9 10, Crosby 4 1-1 9, Smith 3 1-6 8, Haas 3 2-2 8, Tucker 3 0-0 6, Grosfield 2 0-2 5, Cline 0 1-2 1, Ibarra 0 0-2 0, Totals 21 13-25 58
3-pointers—H 7 (McDonald 3, Gerber 2, Farmer 1, Swift 1), L 3 (Smith 1, Hope 1, Grosfield 1)
