BY JIM MISUNAS
jmisunas@gbtribune.com

PRATT — When Great Bend's Ian Premer sized up Pratt's 6-foot-6 Arley Morrell, he knew it'd be a challenge. 

Premer dominated the matchup with 29 points, 14 rebounds and five steals to ignite a 59-46 non-league basketball victory over the Greenbacks Friday. 

Morrell converted 5 of 19 field goals and scored 14 points, nine below his scoring average. Premer skied for a slam dunk that left Pratt's Kyler Barker in his dust. 

"We did a good job defending No. 20 (Morrell) in the post," said Great Bend coach Kyle Kriegh. "We were locked in tonight. It's a nice team effort."

Premer delivered the night's signature defensive plays when he blocked Morrell's first-quarter shot, which sent Pratt's center tumbling to the floor. He later swatted an inside shot by Grant McAtee.

"It's a good team win. Our team defense was better," Premer said.  

Pratt led 9-4 early. But Premer sparked a 24-10 scoring run for a 29-19 lead with 13 second-quarter points and an assist to Cooper Ohnmacht.

The 6-foot-6 Ben Nicholson scored a career high 12 second-half points by attacking the basket for his best minutes of his career. Ohnmacht chipped in eight points. Daxton Minton contributed five points, four steals and three assists.

"Ben converted some baseline drives," Kriegh said. "He's a smart kid who fun to coach."

Great Bend (5-1) converted 22 of 37 field goals (59%) and 15 of 27 free throws to offset zero 3-pointers. Against Haven, the Panthers missed 15 3-pointers.

Pratt's athletic Caleb Strong scored points with a trio of 3-pointers. Pratt made 18 of 52 field goals and 5 of 20 3-pointers against the Panthers 1-3-1 defensive look that kept the Greenbacks out of offensive rhythm.

"We played well defensively against a team that shoots a ton of 3s," Kriegh said. "Cooper was really good on our backside defense."

No. 10 5A state-ranked Great Bend (5-1) drops No. 10 4A state-ranked Pratt to 4-2.

Great Bend 14 15 17 13 — 59

Pratt 11 10 10 15 — 46

GREAT BEND (5-1) (FG 3 FT TP)—Ian Premer 10-16 9-17 29; Nicholson 6-11 (0-1) 0-0 12; Ohnmacht 4-7 0-0 8; Reed 0-1 3-4 3; Wondra 0-0 0-2 0; Minton 1-1 3-4 5; Stroup 1-1 0-0 2; Totals 22-37 (0-2) 15-27 59

 PRATT (4-2) (FG 3 FT TP)—Caleb Strong 9-14 (3-5) 0-0 21; Morrell 5-19 (0-2) 4-5 14; Titus 0-1 0-0 0; McAtee 1-3 (0-1) 0-0 2; Pore (1-4) 0-0 3; Schmidt 0-3 (0-1) 0-2 0; Barker 2-8 (1-6) 1-2 6; Totals 18-52 (5-20) 5-9 46