BY JIM MISUNAS
jmisunas@gbtribune.com

After getting outscored 18-0 on 3-pointers, Great Bend 's basketball team trailed Hays High 27-24 in an electric showdown for first place in the Western Athletic Conference.

Panther Daxton Minton keyed a momentum-shifting second half with a trio of 3-pointers that sparked the Panthers' 64-52 victory over the defending WAC champions. Minton converted a pair of his patented set shot 3-pointers around Ben Nicholson's 3-pointer for a 35-27 lead.

Minton made a third 3-pointer and scored 13 second-half points to spark a 27-10 scoring burst capped by Ian Premer's first slam dunk for a 51-37 lead. Premer scored 26 points with 11 rebounds and two slam dunks to entertain a raucous home crowd that featured Kansas State head football coach Chris Klieman.

"Coach 'K' told us to play with confidence and believe in yourself," Minton said. "I took that to heart. It feels good to see that first shot go down. My teammates could see I was 'feeling it.' They got me the ball."

Great Bend coach Kyle Kriegh saw the Panthers convert 4 of 7 second-half 3-pointers after an 0-for-9 first half from the perimeter. The Panthers made 17 of 26 second-half field goals in a 40-point second half behind excellent ball movement and a quicker pace.

"We wanted to get good shots and that comes down to swinging the basketball," Kriegh said. "That first half, we played too much 'iso' ball rather than work together."

The Indians' defensive game plan of collapsing on Premer and enticing the Panthers into launching 3-pointers worked for a half. The Panthers made 9 of 27 first-half field goals (33%).

"We've got to find a way to get stops defensively regardless of the shots," said Hays coach Sean Dreiling in a postgame radio interview. "We've didn't get them off the offensive glass. We've got to get tougher. They manufactured points with second-chance opportunities when they weren't making threes."

Kriegh knew the Panthers would have to prove they could make a perimeter shot to beat the Indians' defense.

"Hays was sagging off our perimeter shooters," Kriegh said. "Dax did a great job. He was our spark tonight. We shot the ball better and believed in what we were doing."

No. 4 state-ranked 5A Great Bend (13-1, 3-0 WAC) takes charge of the WAC and handed Hays (7-6, 2-1 WAC) its first league loss with a 23-10 third quarter edge.

"We'll let this sink in and celebrate this victory," Kriegh said. "We played some of the best minutes we've played all season. Hopefully, we can continue that trend." 

Hays sharpshooter Tiger Johnson and Dawson Ruder combined for six first-half 3-pointers for a 27-24 halftime lead. Johnson and Ruder each scored 17 points. The Indians made 2 of 10 3-pointers after halftime  and 8 of 28 second-half field goals against improved Panther defense.

"We get everybody's best shot," Minton said. "Coach told us to see where the shooters were and get a hand in their face."

Dreiling is anxious to see the Panthers a second time at Hays.

"It was a great environment, a packed house," Dreiling said. "There were a lot of punches being thrown by both teams. It's a rivalry game. It feels good to know we're going to see them again."

Hays High 12 15 10 15 — 52

Great Bend 11 13 23 17 — 64

HAYS HIGH (7-6, 2-1)—Johnson 5-11 (5-9) 2-2 17, Ruder 6-13 (2-3) 3-4 17, Cano 4-11 (1-5) 1-2 11, Fox 0-3 1-4 1, Lindenmeyer 1-3 (0-1) 0-0 2, Oakley 2-8 (0-2) 1-3 5, Totals 18-50 (8-21) 8-15 52

GREAT BEND (13-1, 3-0)—Ian Premer 11-16 (0-3) 4-7 26, Minton 5-8 (3-5) 1-3 14, Nicholson 5-12 (1-5) 0-0 11, Hall 2-9 (0-2) 3-6 7, Stroup 2-3 0-0 4, Reed 1-5 0-2, Totals 26-53 (4-16) 8-16 64

Technical foul—Hall