By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
It was far from perfect basketball but not bad for a season opener. The No. 5 Great Bend boys led Salina South just 35-26 at the half in a revamped Panther Fieldhouse Friday night. Junior Ian Premer capped a big night with a putback with four minutes to play to set the clock into motion for good as Great Bend won its opener 71-44.
"We know we're an athletic team that can push the pace and run on people," said Premer, who finished with 27 points and 14 rebounds. "They're going to have to keep up with us. It's going to be a track meet but we're going to play defense too. They had 44 - a lot of threes and a lot of free throws. They weren't scoring a lot inside so I think that speaks to us defensively, and we're kind of priding ourselves on that this year."
The Panther offense put on a clinic in the first quarter of the season with a handful of assists that resulted in 9-of-11 shooting from the field. Premer scored 11 points in the first four minutes of the game for an 11-2 Panther lead. Ben Nicholson, one of three seniors on this year's roster, got in the mix with a basket then an assist to sophomore Cooper Ohnmacht. Nicholson put down a jam in the final seconds of the frame to give Great Bend a 20-10 lead.
Junior Jacob Hall scored twice in the first 58 seconds of the second quarter. The Panthers were cruising at 33-15 after a Nicholson three midway through the quarter. South senior Jace Humphrey was the lone Cougar to make field goals in the second quarter but Panther fouls caught up and South finished the frame 8-of-12 from the free throw line to keep it close at 35-26 by halftime.
Junior Ethan Somers swished a three midway through the third, and junior Daxton Minton followed by taking a rebound coast-to-coast for a basket and foul for a 51-31 score. Nicholson picked up a late assist to Premer under the basket, and Premer's putback in the final seconds put the Panthers on top 57-33 with a quarter to play.
"I think we just knew we had to adjust to the fouls they were calling," Premer said. "They were getting a lot of free throws, not on shots but on perimeter fouls. We adjusted to that, shut down their free throw game, and just played solid defense throughout."
Senior Izaeh Reed got in the scoring book with back-to-back baskets midway through the fourth to set up the 30-point lead and running clock. Ian Premer followed the script, collecting one more rebound and basket on a miss from little brother Alec Premer to push the lead to 69-38.
Ian Premer scored his 27 points on 12-of-14 shooting from the field. Hall added 13 points and Nicholson finished with 11 points. Reed scored four points and Minton and Somers each finished with three points.
Humphrey paced Salina South with 14 points. The Cougar big men - 6-6 junior Gavin DeVoe and 6-5 junior Sawyer Walker - each scored nine points.