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Panthers' Hall passes 1,000 points in 61-41 loss
jacob hall
Great Bend's Jacob Hall (15) scores inside against Conway Springs. - photo by JIM MISUNAS Great Bend Tribune

BY JIM MISUNAS

jmisunas@gbtribune.com

EMPORIA — The Emporia Spartans outscored Great Bend 11-0 to start the game and 14-2 to start the second quarter and the Panthers never recovered from that opening 24-2 scoring barrage.

Emporia raced past the offensive-challenged Panthers 61-41 in Tuesday's 5A Maize South basketball substate.

All-Western Athletic Jacob Hall provided the night's well-deserved highlight with 10 points to pass the 1,000-point barrier for his career. Cooper Ohnmacht chipped in 10 points and Tavon Stroup hit a pair of 3-pointers and scored nine points.

Western Athletic runner-up Great Bend (13-10) converted 14 of 53 field goals (26%) and 4 of 19 from 3-point range (21%) to go with 15 turnovers.

The Panthers missed six field goals with four turnovers to start the game. The Panthers shot 1 for 13 to trail 30-11 in the second quarter. The Spartans led 34-17 at halftime with the Panthers making 7 of 29 field goals (24%).

"Emporia came out and got after it and we weren't ready to go," said Great Bend coach Kyle Kriegh. "We missed some layups. We didn't get boxouts and gave up extra shots."

Emporia's top three scorers combined for 52 points, six over their average to dominate all three matchups against the Panthers defense. Transition scores off fast breaks and extra field goals off second-chances hurt the Panthers.

Pesky guard Harrison Treic scored 18 points off 7 of 18 shooting. Rylan Crowell bombed home four 3-pointers and scored 18 points. Terrick Franklin provided an inside presence with 14 points and six free throws.

Stroup hit a pair of 3-pointers and Hall six third-quarter points. A 9-2 scoring burst sliced Emporia's lead to 36-26. Emporia closed out the game with a 16-8 fourth quarter. The Panthers converted 3 of 11 shots with four missed free throws. A 26% shooting night wasn't nearly good enough.

Ironically, the first Emporia showdown was the first time the Panthers played without injured all-stater Ian Premer, who missed the remainder of the season. Great Bend finished 9-9 without Ian Premer.

Seniors Hall, Stroup, Daxton Minton, Kavon Price and Eli Contreras played their final game in a Panther uniform.

Great Bend 9 8 16 8 —41

Emporia 16 18 11 16— 61

GREAT BEND (13-10)—Jacob Hall 3-11 (0-4) 4-4 13, Ohnmacht 4-13 (1-5) 1-1 10, Jaxon Wondra 1-7 (1-3) 2-2 5, Stroup 3-6 (2-3) 1-2 9, Alec Premer 2-5 1-4 5, Minton 1-6 (0-2) 0-0 2, Price (0-2) 0-2 0, Totals 14-53 (4-19) 9-15 41 

EMPORIA (17-7)—Treic 7-18 (2-7) 2-2 18, Crowell 6-15 (4-8) 2-4 18, Franklin 4-11 6-8 14, Shively 3-7 (0-1) 0-0 6, Bloomquist 1-2 0-2 2, Tanner Seidl (0-3) 0-0 0, Harrington 1-4 1-2 3, Totals 22-60 (6-19) 11-18 61