KARNS CITY — Dalton Callihan and David Olszak combined to score 39 points for the Karns City boys basketball team Friday night.

The Gremlins as a team scored 47.

“We needed to get some scoring from other guys,” said Karns City coach Chris Bellis.

That didn't happen against Redbank Valley Wednesday night and the Bulldogs took advantage, dropping the Gremlins, 56-47.

Callihan had a huge night for Karns City with 21 points and 19 rebounds.

“I thought Dalton had a great game,” Bellis said. “I thought he controlled the boards.”

Olszak turned in his typical solid night with 18 points.

But the rest of the Gremlins combined to shoot 3-of-26 from the field.

“We tried a couple of different people and I thought we got some good looks from a couple of different people,” Bellis said. “We just didn't knock any shots down. We have to have another guard score some points. We have to have more than two guys score points.”

Two looked to be enough in the first half as Karns City grabbed a 14-9 lead early in the second quarter.

Redbank Valley (10-2, 6-0) was able to pull even at the half, and after both teams struggled for most of the third quarter, the Bulldogs surged ahead, 34-28, heading into the final eight minutes.

“We felt like we were in a good position at halftime,” Bellis said. “We talked about the first three minutes of the second half being important. I didn't think Redbank played very well in the first two minutes of the third quarter, we just played worse. Then they got on a roll.”

Redbank Valley scored 22 points in the final quarter to keep Karns City at arm's length.

The Gremlins (1-5, 0-1) fell behind by 12 midway through the fourth and only got as close as seven in the closing minute.

For Redbank Valley, the strategy at halftime was left up to the players.

“I just said, 'You guys figure out how you want to play,'” said Bulldogs' coach Greg Bean. “All the coaches walked out at halftime and they stayed in there. They came out and said, 'This is the defense we're running and these are the plays we're running,' and we said, 'OK.'”

It worked.

Devin Shumaker scored 22 points and Zach Westover added 12 for Redbank Valley.

Sam Heeter scored eight of his 10 points in the final quarter for the Bulldogs.

For Karns City, which only has six games — and one Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference game — under its belt, it's time to go back to work.

“We just have to keep on getting better,” Bellis said. “We just have to find that next scorer. We have a lot of guys who just haven't shot the ball a lot recently. We had guys who worked hard in the summer, but then don't touch a basketball for five months. We have to work hard to get it back in five weeks.”

REDBANK VALLEY 56

Devin Shumaker 5-5 10-13 22, Sam Heeter 5-14 0-2 10, Jake Dougherty 1-9 2-2 5, Dalton Dougherty 1-2 1-2 3, Zach Westover 4-4 4-6 12, Khorey Neiswonger 1-3 1-2 4, Bracken Scott 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 17-47 18-27 56.

KARNS CITY 47

David Olszak 8-19 1-2 18, Ethan Conto 1-5 0-0 2, Holden Martin 1-10 0-0 3, Christian Turner 0-1 1-2 1, Jake Wiles 0-0 0-0 0, Colton Hawk 0-2 0-0 0, Reese Barger 0-2 0-0 0, Brendan Waltman 1-2 0-1 2, Chandler Turner 0-2 0-0 0, Dalton Callihan 8-11 5-8 21, Noah Pollock 0-2 0-0 0. Totals: 19-56 7-13 47.

Redbank Valley 9 14 11 22 — 56

Karns City10 13 5 19 — 47

3-point goals: Redbank Valley 4 (Shumaker 2, J. Dougherty, Neiswonger); Karns City 2 (Olszak, Martin)

JV: Karns City 43-20

Friday: Moniteau at Karns City