KARNS CITY — Things were not going Karns City’s way in the first half.

The Gremlins boys basketball team had scored just 13 points in the first 16 minutes of a home game against Moniteau.

Karns City was a woeful 4-of-22 shooting from the field.

Yet, the Gremlins were down just 17-13.

Karns City decided to turn up the defensive pressure in the second half and that turned up the points as the Gremlins scored 37 in the second half on the way to a 50-37 win over the Warriors Tuesday night.

“We tried to play some defenses we could get some buckets off of at the other end,” said Karns City coach Chris Bellis. “That’s where we got our points from in the second half. We were able to create some offense from our defense.”

While Karns City (8-9) struggled mightily on offense in the first half, so did Moniteau (5-14).

The Warriors shot just 7-of-23 from the field in the first two quarters. The only difference was the Moniteau struggles extended throughout the second half as well.

“We had a pretty good defensive first half,” said Moniteau coach Jerrod Markle. “We just couldn’t maintain it in the second half. We just didn’t get enough to fall on offense tonight. But we played really hard. Proud of the kids.”

Moniteau couldn’t have asked for a better start, jumping out to a 12-3 lead late in the first quarter.

A small run by Karns City cut that down to 12-8 by the end of the quarter.

The Gremlins didn’t get their first lead until Noah Pollock hit one of his three 3-pointers on the night to give Karns City a 25-24 advantage in the third quarter.

Moniteau briefly regained the lead, but Karns City went ahead for good at 29-27 late in the third.

The second half was played at a much more frenetic pace, which was Bellis’ plan.

“We were able to get some turnovers and turn those into points in the second half,” Bellis said.

“It was a story of two halves,” Markle said. “We got them in the first half, they got us in the second half.”

Pollock got Moniteau all game.

The junior point guard came off the bench and handled the ball exceptionally well, dribbling his way through Moniteau’s press and double teams all night.

Pollock also added a game-high 17 points.

“I thought today he took control of the ball and showed some leadership,” Bellis said. “That’s sometimes hard for a junior to do. He came off the bench and he led the team in the fourth quarter.”

J.J. Waid scored 13 points and Luke Pry added 10 to lead the Warriors.

MONITEAU 37

Aaron Marterella 2-7 0-0 4, Jake Jewart 1-7 0-0 3, Derek Boben 3-10 0-0 7, Lake Pry 4-12 1-3 10, J.J. Waid 5-10 2-4 13, Nate Sosigian 0-2 0-0 0, Ross Tenney 0-1 0-0 0, McKinley Baptiste 0-0 0-00. Totals: 15-49 3-7 37.

KARNS CITY 50

Collin Dunmyre 1-3 0-0 2, Holden Martin 1-6 3-4 5, Jimmy Thompson 1-6 7-10 9, Reese Barger 2-11 0-0 4, Chandler Turner 4-10 0-0 8, Noah Pollocl 5-12 4-4 17, Ian McElroy 1-3 1-2 3, Ben Ealy 1-1 0-0 2, Jacob Friel 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 16-52 15-20 50.

Moniteau 12 5 10 10 — 37

Karns City8 5 16 21 — 50

3-point goals: Moniteau 4 (Jewart, Boben, Pry, Waid); Karns City 3 (Pollock 3)

JV: Karns City 38-33

Today: Karns City at Springdale

Friday: Redbank Valley at Moniteau