KARNS CITY — Dalton Callihan and the Karns boys basketball team have spent most of the season looking for consistency on offense.

The Gremlins struggled in the first half to knock down jumpers Wednesday night against Keystone.

When Karns City's ball movement was humming in the second half, the Gremlins nearly doubled up Keystone in a 60-49 home KSAC South Division win.

Karns City outscored the Panthers 32-17 after trailing by two at halftime.

Callihan, who finished with a team-high 17 points and 15 rebounds, thinks Karns City's offense is starting to come together.

The Gremlins scored at least 60 points in their last two games since Cranberry held them to a season-low 33 points Jan. 28.

“Everyone's starting to feel the game more,” Callihan said. “We start to feed off each other more. When somebody is playing good, everyone seems to play good.”

Karns City's roster felt good against Keystone.

The Gremlins had nine players score and eased some of the burden off Callihan and David Olszak, who scored 13 points and added six assists.

“We had a few games where one of them struggled, our team sort of struggled,” said senior forward Brendan Waltman, who scored seven points off the bench. “We figured out how to pass the ball around more. Everyone is usually scoring now. More people are making contributions.”

Keystone (2-12, 1-5) was efficient on offense in the first half, shooting 43 percent (10-of-23).

Braden Jones scored 11 of his 15 points in the first quarter.

Austin Graf, who scored 16 points, made a jumper from inside the 3-point line with one second left in the first half to give Keystone a 30-28 lead.

“That was pretty good shooting for us,” Panthers coach Greg Heath said. “We moved the ball and attacked the paint and were getting good shots when we attacked the paint.”

Karns City (8-7, 4-1) locked down the middle of the court after halftime, employing a man defense and half-court trap.

The Gremlins held the Panthers without a basket for nearly six minutes and went on a 13-0 run.

“We needed to defend better, whether we were playing man or the trap,” Karns City coach Chris Bellis said. “Our kids came out and played better defense. We started out in man and moved to a trap and made an adjustment to keep the ball out of the middle of the floor.”

Olszak put Karns City ahead for good, 32-30, on a driving layup with 5:40 left in the third quarter.

Waltman capped the run with a 3-pointer with 2:19 left to put the Gremlins ahead 41-30.

“We adjusted a few things around, move people into different places,” Waltman said. “I guess we were just knocking them down. It seemed like we were taking the same stuff.”

Karns City is hoping to continue its momentum and keep moving toward making a playoff spot.

“We're in a little bit of a tough situation where we're in a three-game week and this is our third straight three-game week,” Bellis said. “We need to take it one quarter at a time and prevent starting games like we did tonight.”

KEYSTONE 49

Mason Rearick 0 0-0 0, Alex Graf 5 6-8 16, Chris Braun 1 1-2 3, Braden Jones 7 0-1 15, Tim Haines 0 0-0 0, Austin Ion 2 0-0 5, Brayden Shick 2 4-4 10, Tanner Wilson 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 11-15 49.

KARNS CITY 60

David Olszak 5 3-4 13, Ethan Conto 2 0-0 5, Christian Turner 4 0-1 8, Colton Hawk 1 0-0 2, Dalton Callihan 7 3-4 17, Brendan Waltman 3 0-0 7, Ben Ealy 0 0-0 0, Reese Barger 1 2-2 5, Chandler Turner 1 0-0 2, Holden Martin 0 1-2 1,Jimmy Thompson 0 0-0 0. Totals: 24 9-13 60.

Keystone 16 14 4 13 — 49

Karns City12 16 16 16 — 60

3-point goals: Keystone 4 (Shick 2, Ion, Jones); Karns City 3 (Conto, Barger, Waltman)

Friday: Karns City at Union