KARNS CITY — After suffering a 39-point loss Monday to Brookville, Chris Bellis was curious to see how his Karns City boys basketball team would respond.

That question was answered quickly Tuesday at practice.

“We had a really good practice (Tuesday),” Bellis said. “A lot of times when you face adversity like we did Monday, they can come in and hang their head. The kids didn’t do that. They came in and worked hard and they knew they needed to make an adjustment as far as how hard they play and making hustle plays and tonight we did.”

That helped the Gremlins turn a tight, two-point game at the half into a comfortable 53-36 win over Keystone Wednesday night.

A Karns City defense that surrendered 71 points Monday kept the Panthers in check. Keystone shot just 33 percent from the floor, had just 21 points through three quarters and had just one player (Tanner Wilson) score in double-digits with 11.

“We came out and made some adjustments on the defensive end,” Bellis said. “I just felt like against Brookville they played harder than we did Monday. Really, we didn’t get too in depth with what our keys to winning tonight were. We needed to play harder than them tonight and we did.”

Karns City (7-8) held just a 19-17 lead at the half, but used a big third quarter to extend that lead to 10 at 31-21.

The lead continued to swell in the fourth quarter thanks to an 18-of-20 performance from the free throw line.

The Gremlins were 22-of-25 from the stripe in the game.

Holden Martin scored all 10 of his points from the line with a 10-for-10 effort.

“That’s his first time in double figures, so that’s big for him,” Bellis said. “He’s a good free throw shooter. We just talked in practice the other day about how good a free throw shooter he is. We just need to get him to the line. He went to the basket a few times today and was able to get to the line. When they were in a situation where they had to foul, he wanted the basketball.”

So did Chandler Turner, who made the most of his opportunities.

Turner was 5-of-5 shooting from the field and finished with a team-high 11 points.

Karns City was also adept at milking time with guards Reese Barger, Martin and Noah Pollock playing an effective game of keep-away from Keystone.

“I thought our guards took care of the basketball very well,” Bellis said. “In particular I know Reese Barger played 32 minutes, he played good defense and I don’t think he had any turnovers.”

The bounce-back win was huge for a team that has been inconsistent at times this season.

“It was all about how they came into practice (Tuesday),” Bellis said. “They could have mailed it in, but they didn’t. It was probably our best practice of the year. Our kids were hungry, too. They got us earlier in the season up at their place, and I think that left a bad taste in our kids’ mouths. They wanted to get them down here tonight.”

KEYSTONE 36

Austin Ion 1-6 1-3 4, Brayden Shick 2-6 0-0 5, Mason Reerick 4-10 0-1 9, Tanner Wilson 4-10 2-2 11, Braden Jones 2-5 3-4 7, Ian Henry 0-0 0-0 0, Corey Rapp 0-3 0-0 0, Nate Wingard 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 13-39 6-10 36.

KARNS CITY 53

Collin Dunmyre 1-2 0-0 2, Holden Martin 0-2 10-10 10, Jimmy Thompson 2-6 4-6 8, Reese Barger 0-4 0-0 0, Chandler Turner 5-5 1-2 11, Noah Pollock 2-4 2-2 8, Ben Ealy 1-1 0-0 2, Jacob Friel 1-1 3-3 5, Ian McElroy 2-8 2-2 7. Totals: 14-33 22-25 53.

Keystone 7 10 4 15 — 36

Karns City9 10 12 22 — 53

3-point goals: Keystone 3 (Ion, Reerick, Wilson); Karns City 3 (Pollock 2, McElroy)

JV: Keystone 43-37

Friday: Karns City at Union