Great Bend splits pair of thrillers with Hoisington

Basketball fans in Barton County were treated to two exciting games Tuesday night in Great Bend as Hoisington traveled just 10 miles to take on the Panthers. For the second year in a row, the Great Bend boys pulled off an upset, holding off the No. 5 Cardinals for a 66-59 win. The Hoisington girls escaped with a 35-33 victory.

The Great Bend boys appeared to have things well in hand, extending a 35-25 halftime lead to a 45-27 lead midway through the third quarter. Connor Sell scored the first five points of the second half for Great Bend, and Jace Bowman’s three-pointer gave the Panthers that 18-point lead with 4:52 to play in the third quarter.

The Cardinals (11-4) would not go away. Hoisington has been led all season by senior Derrick Kaiser, and six-foot-eight junior Cody Stetler. After a slow first half, the duo combined for 26 points in the second half.

“I thought in the first three quarters we did a really good job on them,” said Panther coach Chris Battin. “We applied the game plan. Late in the game, they found a little thing that worked and we didn’t have an answer for it. They made some big shots and I knew they would. They’re a good basketball team.”

Kaiser scored four points late in the third quarter to get Hoisington back within striking distance at 51-40. He opened the fourth quarter with a basket, then four points from Stetler cut the gap to 53-46.

“I thought we executed very well offensively all night,” Cardinal coach Kyle Haxton said. “That didn’t necessarily lead to a ton of points, but it was a a slower-paced game in the first half. We picked up the tempo when we decided to pick them up in the full-court with their run-and-jump. That gave us more scoring opportunities.”

Great Bend held the lead behind two long passes from Bowman to Wyatt Bayless for baskets, but the Cardinals refused to give in. Junior Anthony Broeder converted two free throws, then added a basket to cut the lead to five. Taylor Crawford’s putback a minute later got the Cardinals within three at 59-56 with 1:20 to play.

“We put some ball pressure on them and trapped on every opportunity we could possibly get,” said Haxton. “You look back on it now and you wish you had started the game doing something like that because they had a tough time handling our pressure tonight.”

Stetler hit a three in the final minute to again cut the lead to three points, but the Panthers were 7-of-8 from the free throw line in the final 69 seconds to hold on for the win. Junior Matt Marshall sank all four of his free throw tries to give the Panthers (5-9) their third-straight win.

“It provides you with a little bit of confidence that we’re starting to play a little better than we have,” Battin said. “It feels like we’re starting to come together and the kids are playing hard together.”

Stetler scored five points in the first four minutes to give his team a 7-4 lead in the opening quarter. Great Bend answered behind the play of Bowman and junior Ethan Henderson. Henderson had a career-night, scoring all of his 19 points in the first half, and leading the Panthers with six rebounds in the game.

“Ethan did a great job of just playing hard,” said Battin. “He created some turnovers for them, then he would get on the break and finish. He did a tremendous job. He just crashes the glass so hard and goes up and gets good rebounds.”

Bowman helped with eight points in the first quarter to give Great Bend a 20-12 lead. Henderson remained hot in the second quarter, adding nine more points. The junior knocked down his first seven tries from the field, including a three-pointer.

“I came out excited and ready to play,” said Henderson. “It just felt like my night to shoot the ball and make some shots for the team to help out.”

Bowman also finished with 19 points for the Panthers, adding five rebounds. Bayless contributed nine points. Stetler finished with a game-high 21 points and nine rebounds. Kaiser added 14 points, and Broeder scored eight points.

The Cardinals have now lost back-to-back games, but Haxton feels Tuesday’s loss was still a momentum builder.

“I was proud of our effort and proud of the way we played,” Haxton said. “I think we made a move in the right direction from Saturday to today. Win or lose isn’t important to me, it’s how we play the game. I thought we played much better than we did on Saturday.”

Hoisington girls 35, Great Bend 33
The Lady Panthers entered the night having scored 40 or more points just twice all season. Great Bend put together perhaps its best offensive half of basketball to take a 24-21 lead into the break, but Hoisington eventually took over, holding the Panthers to just 3-of-20 shooting in the final two quarters.

“We mixed it up with our two zones,” said Hoisington coach Mandy Mason. “We played a 2-3 and a 3-2, and late in the game we had to go man. They can hit the shot from the outside. We hadn’t played a lot of man the whole game but we wanted to change it up and frustrate them a little.”

The teams combined for just 10 points in the third quarter as Hoisington took a 28-27 lead into the final quarter. Panther sophomore McKenna Mauler hit a three to give Great Bend a 30-28 advantage with 6:10 to play. That would be the last Panther lead of the night. The Cardinal seniors took over as Mallory Flagor tied things up three minutes later.  Blakelee Cooper gave the Cardinals the lead on long-two with 2:05 to play, then Savannah Rose added insurance with 1:05 to play.

Mauler hit a three-pointer with a second to play to cut into the gap, but the damage had already been done. After going 10-of-19 from the floor in the first half, Great Bend scored just nine second half points on 15 percent shooting.

“It’s not like the second half we really turned the ball over much,” said Panther coach Jason Tatkenhorst. “We did get the ball around the basket several times. At this point, I’m not sure what the problem is. That’s frustrating to coach and frustrating for the team.
“We only allowed 14 points in the second half. We should be bragging about our defense and how great it was. We only gave up 14 and we lose. I can’t figure that out.”

Hoisington (11-4) jumped out to a 7-1 lead to start the game. Great Bend (1-13) used a putback from Elizabeth Kutina and three-pointer from Olivia Basye to get back into the mix at 15-12 after one quarter.

Panther sophomore Morgan Harwood scored four quick points to give Great Bend its first lead at 17-15. Hoisington hit its first five shots of the game, but missed on its next four tries.

“We came out with a lot of intensity and a lot of energy, and probably a lot of adrenaline was flowing,” Mason said. “As we got our composure and settled into the game, we missed some shots and Great Bend had some good looks at the bucket and had some nice outside shots."

As the Great Bend offense struggled in the second half, the Cardinals went inside to their leading scorers. Flagor had four points in the third quarter and Rose added three points.

“Down the stretch, we got a little out of our element as far as running our man-plays,” said Mason. “Late, we knew we had to get the ball inside and Mallory came up with some huge buckets down the stretch.”

Flagor finished with 14 points to lead all scorers. Rose added seven points and five rebounds. Mauler scored six of her 10 points in the fourth quarter for Great Bend. Kutina finished with seven points and eight boards, and Basye added six points.

Hoisington will enjoy getting back on the winning side after a loss to Hesston on Saturday. Great Bend is out to stop its five-game skid.

“We’ve got to pull through,” said Tatkenhorst. “The girls realized they can score. We had 24 points in the first half. We’ve got to pull through and overcome that hurdle.”