BY JIM MISUNAS
jmisunas@gbtribune.com
The high-flying Ben Nicholson and Ian Premer show was pure entertainment in front of an appreciative home basketball crowd against Garden City.
Nicholson and Premer combined for 25 first-half points en route to 20 points for each player to spark the No. 10 ranked 5A Panthers past the Buffaloes 71-60 in Friday's Western Athletic Conference basketball showdown. A 25-point first quarter and 43-point first half was fueled by Premer's six assists.
"I was on the receiving end of good passes from my teammates," Nicholson said. "It was nice to get Jacob Hall back tonight."
The Panthers (7-1, 2-0 WAC) scored 22 second-chance points, 11 by Premer, off superb offensive rebounding. Cooper Ohnmacht scored 15 points and Jacob Hall added 11 points. The Panthers travel to Hutchinson Friday in a rematch of last year's 5A substate championship showdown.
"Credit to our guys who are tough," said Great Bend coach Kyle Kriegh. "Cooper and Jacob are studs."
Nicholson started on fire with an 11-point first period. The best sequence saw Premer dish to Nicholson for back-to-back scores and a dunk. Nicholson returned the favor with an assist to Premer for a 23-6 lead.
Garden City (2-6, 0-1 WAC) kept battling keyed by Dallas Rosales with 22 points, Thomas Longa 12 and Drew Strecker 11 points.
The Panthers built a 43-27 lead before the Buffaloes scored 10 consecutive points for a 43-37 score. Premer scored eight third-quarter points and Daxton Minton converted a 3-pointer for a 56-43 lead.
Rosales scored nine fourth-quarter points, two off a technical foul against Minton to close within 60-55. Hall and Ohnmacht to regain control.
Garden City 11 22 13 14 — 60
Great Bend 25 18 13 15 — 71
GARDEN CITY (2-6, 0-1) (FG 3 FT TP)—Dallas Rosales 7-15 (2-8) 6-8 22; Strecker 5-9 (1-2) 0-2 11; Hemmert 3-9 (3-4) 1-2 10; Thomas Longa 6-7 0-1 12; Martinez 1-3 (0-1) 1-4 3; Nemecheck 0-1 0-0 0; Monarrez 0-4 (0-3) 0-0 0; Munoz 1-3 0-0 2; Davis (0-1) 0-0 0; Totals 23-52 (6-19) 8-17 60
GREAT BEND (7-1, 2-0) (FG 3 FT TP)—Ian Premer 9-15 (0-1) 2-7 20; Nicholson 8-16 (1-3) 3-5 20; Ohnmacht 6-14 (1-3) 2-3 15; Hall 4-10 (1-3) 2-2 11; Minton 1-6 (1-3) 0-4 3; Stroup 1-1 0-0 2; Reed (0-1) 0-0 0; Somers 0-1 0-0 0; Totals 29-64 (4-14) 9-21 71
