BY JIM MISUNAS
jmisunas@gbtribune.com
LIBERAL — Great Bend's Ian Premer broke out a dunk party and invited teammate Ben Nicholson. The 6-foot-6 Premer highlighted an incredible 7-dunk performance with a three consecutive slam dunks to ignite a dominating 89-42 Western Athletic Conference basketball victory over Liberal Friday.
The 6-foot-6 Nicholson started the dunkfest with a pair of early slams that led to 11-3 and 19-5 leads en route to a trio of slams. Premer took his game to a higher level with five consecutive second-quarter dunks. He scored his first two slam dunks to help the Panthers lead 25-12 after one quarter. Premer retrieved rebounds for a pair of second-chance dunks and a 29-14 lead. Premer sprinted 80 feet for a third consecutive dunk soaring past Liberal's Eathan Hernandez for a 31-14 lead.
Premer scored 32 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, delivered four steals and passed out three assists. The Panthers dished out 20 assists and converted nine steals into a highlight-reel night.
"Our goal is to attack the basket," said Great Bend coach Kyle Kriegh. "As long as they finish with a basket, I'm good. The best thing is our our guys are attacking the basket."
Nicholson scored 16 points off 7 of 12 shooting and a pair of 3-pointers. Jaxon Wondra led 25 points off the bench with nine points and 3-of-3 shooting. Izeah Reed and Daxton Minton chipped in eight points apiece. Reed drew his patented offensive foul against Liberal.
The Panthers converted 61% on 41 of 67 field goals, 38 of 58 (66%) inside the 3-point stripe. Great Bend kept the basketball moving and attacked the basket with confidence.
"Our practices have been phenomenal," Kriegh said. "It was cool to see our JV guys perform. We hold everyone to a standard as a team."
The No. 10 ranked 5A Panthers (6-1 1-0 WAC) set the defensive tone with a trapping 1-3-1 look that disrupted Liberal's offensive rhythm. The Redskins made 17 of 51 field goals, 5 of 23 from 3-point range.
Streaky shooting Juan Diego drilled an opening 3-pointer for a 3-0 Liberal lead. Diego converted 3 of 11 3-pointers and scored 11 points. James Fieser scored 12 points for Liberal (2-5, 0-2 WAC).
Great Bend 25 20 30 14 — 89
Liberal 12 11 10 9 — 42
GREAT BEND (6-1, 1-0) (FG 3 FT TP)—Ian Premer 15-22 (0-1) 2-4 32; Nicholson 7-12 (2-3) 0-0 16; Reed 4-6 0-0 8; Wondra 3-3 (1-1) 2-2 9; Minton 4-6 (0-1) 0-0 8; Somers 3-5 (0-1) 0-0 6; Stroup 2-3 0-0 4; Alec Premer 2-4 (0-1) 0-0 4; Price 1-3 (0-1) 0-0 2; Ohnmacht 0-3 0-0 0; Totals 41-67 (3-9) 4-7 89
LIBERAL (2-5, 0-2) (FG 3 FT TP)—Fieser 6-14 (0-1) 0-0 12, Juan Diego 4-14 (3-11) 0-0 11, Hernandez 2-4 (0-2) 2-4 6, Moreno 1-4 (0-2) 0-0 2, Reeves 1-3 0-0 2; Faliva 0-1 (0-1) 0-0 0; Cotter 0-3 (0-2) 0-0 0; Spawn 0-1 1-2 1; Olmstead 0-3 0-0 0; Alvarado (1-1) 0-0 3; Castaneda 24 (1-2) 0-0 5; Totals 17-51 (5-23) 3-6 42
LIBERAL GIRLS 73, GREAT BEND 44 — Great Bend's Katherine Mazouch delivered an ESPN-worthy highlight with a banked-in 40-foot 3-pointer to close out the third quarter.
Panther standout Meredith Mazouch threw a perfect pass to Katherine Mazouch, who dribbled twice before hitting the memorable shot. The Mazouch cousins celebrated with a "chest bump."
The 5-foot-3 Meredith Mazouch enjoyed a sparkling career-high night with 17 points and 9 of 15 free throws by fearlessly attacking the basket.
Liberal's All-WAC Shamari Lewis dominated the Panthers with a 32-point night that sparked Lady Red past the Panthers 73-44 in Friday's Western Athletic Conference basketball game.
Great Bend (3-4, 0-1 WAC) snapped Liberal's 15-game head-to-head winning streak last year, but had a tough time competing after a solid first quarter trailing 16-13. Liberal gave the Panthers trouble with fullcourt pressure defense that 17 Panther turnovers.
The Panthers faced a challenge with the athleticism and quickness of Lewis, who did damage on second-chance points. Liberal's Kylie Rhine drilled 4-of-4 3-pointers and scored 14 points. Zoey Torres scored 15 points, but required 17 field goal attempts.
Liberal (4-3, 1-1 WAC) converted 10 of 22 3-point attempts to outscore the Panthers 30-3 on 3-pointers. The Panthers did a commendable job earning free throws with 15 of 28 from the line. Cassie Ellegood added seven points.
Great Bend 13 11 13 7 — 44
Liberal 16 21 24 12 — 73
GREAT BEND (3-4, 0-1) (FG 3 FT TP)—Meredith Mazouch 4-8 (0-1) 9-15 17, Ellegood 3-10 1-2 7, Bryant 2-8 1-6 5, Katherine Mazouch 1-5 (1-3) 1-2 4, McCauley 1-6 (0-2) 1-1 3, Reimer 0-4 0-0 0, Harbaugh 1-3 0-0 2, Siefkes 1-1 0-0 2, Prendergast 1-3 0-0 2, Mayers 0-4 2-2 2,Totals 14-52 (1-6) 15-28 44
LIBERAL (4-3, 1-1) (FG 3 FT TP)—Lewis 13-20 5-10 32, Rhine 5-5 (4-4) 0-0 14, Olvera 1-5 (1-3) 0-2 3, Miller 0-1 0-0 0, McCarter 2-4 (2-3) 0-0 6, Carter (0-1) 0-0 0; Mullens 0-3 0-0 0- Torres 5-17 (2-6) 3-5 15; Hammond 1-4 (0-1) 1-2 3; Short (0-1) 0-0 0; Totals 27-64 (10-22) 9-19 73
