KARNS CITY — Micah Rupp won the opening tip and got the ball to Chase Beighley, who drove for a layup seconds into the game.

Nothing else went right for Karns City in the first quarter — or for most of the night — as Keystone ran away with a 71-41 KSAC boys basketball win Friday night in the Gremlins' gym.

“They just outplayed us badly at both ends of the floor,” Karns City coach Chris Bellis said. “There isn't much else you can say.

“That's a seasoned basketball team that came in here ready to play.”

After Beighley's game-opening bucket, Keystone scored the next 14 points. The Panthers outscored KC (2-2, 1-1) 19-3 in the first period as the Gremlins turned the ball over eight times and hit only one of 11 shots from the floor.

“That first quarter set the tone for us tonight,” Keystone coach Greg Heath said. “This was a shocking result as far as I'm concerned.

“No way did I think we'd win by a score like this. We always have trouble when we come down here. This was just one of those games for Karns City. Even without Nathan Waltman, they are a much better team than they showed tonight.”

Karns City trailed 39-24 at halftime as its offense recovered to score 21 points in the second quarter. The Gremlins missed eight free throws in the period, however.

Th Gremlins shot 30 percebnt from the floor (15 of 50) and less than 50 percent at the line (10 of 22) for the game.

“We talked about our foul shooting at halftime,” Bellis said. “If we shoot 60 or 70 percent at the line, we're only looking at a single-digit deficit at that point. They're called free throws for a reason. You gotta make 'em.

“We settled for too many jump shots. We talked about getting back in the game at the start of the third quarter, but we missed jumpers on our first two possessions and it got away from us again.”

Keystone's lead peaked at 32 (69-47) with 1:50 to play. Karns City never got the deficit into single digits after the first quarter.

Keystone (3-1, 2-0) entered the game without a single player averaging in double figures.

“We have a very balanced lineup and our bench goes 10-deep,” Heath said.

Marc Rearick sank four treys and led the Panthers with 16 points. Brandon Pierce came off the bench to score 15 . Andrew Laver had 12 points, five rebounds and three assists, Troy Johnson 10 points and eight rebounds.

Alex Rapp contributed five assists and three steals.

Beighley led the Gremlins with 19 points and four steals. Freshman Rupp had 15 points, 10 rebounds and three steals.

The rest of KC's lineup produced seven points. Waltman, a high-scoring and rebounding forward, is out of the Gremlin lineup until after Christmas.

“We can't use Nathan's absence as an excuse,” Bellis said. “We need other players to step up and score. That happened for us the other night. It didn't happen tonight.

“Micah is a promising young player. He's meshing in well with the team. We just don't want to put too much on him right away.”

Luke Garing had seven rebounds, Ethan McElroy five boards for Karns City.

KEYSTONE 71

Troy Johnson 5-9 0-0 10, Cameron Easton 0-0 0-0 0, Logan Sell 1-1 0-0 2, Marc Rearick 6-12 0-0 16, Nathan Ion 0-1 0-0 0, Isaak Jones 1-6 0-0 2, Alex Rapp 2-7 0-0 4, Andrew Laver 6-8 0-1 12, Gavin Hogue 1-1 0-0 2, Jayden Blazosky 1-3 0-0 2, Brandon Pierce 6-11 0-0 15, Colin Say 3-5 0-0 6. Totals: 32-64 0-1 71.

KARNS CITY 41

Caiden Corbett 0-5 2-4 2, Micah Rupp 7-13 1-2 15, Chase Beighley 8-20 2-4 19, Eric Booher 0-3 0--0 0, Daunte Young 0-1 2-2 2, Ethan McElroy 0-7 2-4 2, Luke Garing 0-1 1-6 1. Totals: 15-50 10-22 41.

Keystone 19 20 15 17 — 71

Karns City3 21 8 9 — 41

3-point goals: Rearick 4, Pierce 3; Beighley

JV: Keystone, 46-19 (K: Logan Sell 23, KC: Michael Neff 6)

Tuesday: Karns City at Cranberry