Well-rounded effort propels Karns City to decisive win
KARNS CITY — Karns City shared and so, too, did Cranberry.
The Gremlins took advantage of a slew of turnovers committed by their guests Friday night, racing away with a 70-42 boys basketball victory.
Just over three minutes into the second quarter, the Berries had more giveaways (12) than they had points (10). Karns City (4-0) wasn’t able to cash in on the haphazard play in the initial quarter, but powered out to a 16-0 run to start the frame that followed, leaving Cranberry in the rear-view
In total, the Gremlins forced 20 turnovers on the night. It took a late run for the Berries (1-3) to become the first team to eclipse 40 points against Karns City this year, that well after each of their hosts’ starters were subbed out for good.
“That’s something we preach all week long in practice, is good, hard man-to-man defense when we’re in 50 and good defense when we’re trapping,” Gremlins coach Zach Kepple said. “We always talk about a lot of energy defensively and how it will lead to offensive buckets.”
Senior forward Micah Rupp described the unit’s solid feat as being a product of “just bringing the pressure at a home game. Packed crowd, you’ve got to bring up the energy.”
It was Karns City’s own generous nature that held them back from pulling away earlier than they did.
“One thing about this team is we’re very unselfish,” Kepple said. “They try to make an extra pass, which keeps us from getting some of those buckets. But, we’re working on it. We’re trying to tell them to finish when you get to the rim and don’t worry about making that extra pass. I think we did a better job of that in the second half of just going up strong with the basketball.”
That, and his side pulled down 10 offensive rebounds over the final 16 minutes, most of which were stuck back for second-chance points by Rupp or 6-foot-5 sophomore big man Shane Peters.
“Certainly, this (Karns City) is one of the best teams in our conference,” Cranberry coach Patrick Irwin said. “It’s sort of a litmus test to let you know where you’re at.”
Kepple pointed to statistics from the team’s prior three games this go-round which showed that the Gremlins are grabbing 75% of the boards on the defensive end and half of balls up for grabs on the other side of the floor. That sort of dominance on the glass has been a boon.
“That’s a huge stat that we’re getting a second opportunity once every two possessions,” he said. “We definitely continued to do that tonight ... Rebounding is really just an effort thing and they’re all putting in the effort to get on the glass.”
Taite Beighley paced the offense by bucketing 22 points, while Rupp added another 19.
“We hang out a lot and play basketball a lot together,” Rupp said of the duo’s on-court relationship. “It builds chemistry so we’re able to play good on the court.”
Kepple added that contributors such as Grossman and Peters have been pleasant surprises with injured guard Luke Kramer out for the entirety of the hardwood schedule.
“We’re playing good team basketball right now,” Kepple said. “Offense was obviously a concern when you lose a guy like Luke, but we’ve done a pretty good job of sharing the basketball and distributing the scoring.”
Having come out on top in their first four outings, things bode well for the Gremlins.
“I think it motivates us a lot,” Rupp said. “Nobody wants a loss on the year, so let’s see how long we go undefeated.”
CRANBERRY 42
Merryman 6 2-2 15, Weaver 2 1-2 6, Rex 2 2-2 6, Bunyak 1 2-3 4, Baker 1 1-2 3, Schwab 1 0-0 2, D. Zerbe 1 0-0 2, Con. Zerbe 1 0-0 2, C. Zerbe 0 0-2 0, Findlay 0 0-2 0. Totals: 16 8-14 42.
KARNS CITY 70
Taite Beighley 8 4-5 22, Micah Rupp 8 3-4 19, Shane Peters 4 1-2 9, Hobie Bartoe 2 3-4 8, Braden Grossman 3 0-0 6, Colson Ritzert 1 0-1 2, Jacob Callihan 1 0-1 2, Jacob Jones 0 2-2 2. Totals: 27 13-19 70.
Cranberry 10 9 9 14 — 42
Karns City 12 23 22 13 — 70
3-point goals: Karns City 3 (Beighley 2, Bartoe), Cranberry 2 (Merryman, Weaver)
