KARNS CITY — 3-pointers and turnovers.

When Karns City is hitting the former and the opposition is committing the latter, the Gremlins usually win.

"That's been the formula in our six (league) wins," Karns City coach Steve Andreassi said.

The Gremlins sank nine treys Tuesday night and Venango Catholic committed 33 turnovers as Karns City cruised to a 64-40 boys basketball victory.

Entering the contest, the Gremlins (7-11, 6-2) had dropped four of their last five games and failed to score 40 points in their last two games.

"We were really struggling, so this was nice to see," Andreassi admitted.

Venango Catholic (4-12, 1-6) lost its sixth straight game. The Vikings failed to sink an outside shot all night, scoring only on lay-ups and free throws.

"That's the way I like us to score … I'd just like us to do it more often," Venango Catholic coach Ed McIntyre said.

"Turnovers have been our problem during this losing streak. We've probably been averaging 20 to 25 per game. Tonight was a little worse."

Karns City came out with full-court pressure and forced eight turnovers in the first five minutes in racing to a 15-4 lead.

Steve Black sank two treys during the early uprising. Black and fellow senior Mark Ferguson wound up with four 3-pointers each.

Venango Catholic endured an 11-minute stretch of the first half without a field goal as the Gremlins led by as much as 32-12 late in the first half.

The lead peaked at 58-30 on Ferguson's final trey with 5:25 left in the game.

"We started three sophomores tonight and we wanted to press," Andreassi said. "We're athletic enough to do it."

Black paced Karns City with 16 points while Ferguson added 13. Ferguson did not play at all in the first half.

Sophomore Eric Guth paced the Vikings with 14 points. Alex Eckert, another sophomore, had seven of 25 rebounds for Venango.

Mike McConnell had four of 22 Karns City rebounds.

"We like to push the ball up the floor and turnovers are going to come with that," McIntyre said. "We're extremely young, too. Fifteen of our 19 players are freshmen or sophomores."

Karns City had 23 turnovers itself. The Gremlins are 6-2 in KSAC play, 1-9 outside of the league.

"Our program is designed to do well in our league," Andreassi said. "We play a killer non-conference schedule for a reason. It prepares us to do well in league play.

"I wasn't sure we'd be around (the top of the KSAC standings) at this point, but we're here. Nobody can take that way from us.

"Our schedule gets tougher from here on. I'm looking forward to seeing how we respond," he added.

VENANGO CATHOLIC 40

Mike McNellie 2-3 0-0 4, Alex Eckert 1-14 5-7 7, Trey Siegel 0-1 1-2 1, Harrison Zacherd 2-4 1-2 5, Paul Lehman 2-4 1-2 5, Eric Guth 5-7 4-7 14, Ed Lillard 1-2 0-0 2, Zach Freeman 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 14-36 12-20 40

KARNS CITY 64

Mike Senapole 4-8 0-0 9, Steve Black 4-6 4-4 16, Mike McConnell 2-6 1-3 5, Cameron Turner 3-6 1-4 7, Matt McConnell 0-2 2-2 2, Mark Ferguson 4-5 1-1 13, Jeremy Bowser 1-4 0-0 2, Charlie Zaludek 2-3 0-0 4, Kevin Beck 3-5 0-0 6. Totals: 23-45 9-12 64

3-point goals:

Senapole, Black 4, Ferguson 4

JV:

Karns City, 54-19 (KC-Brett Green 12, Kyle Davis 11)

Thursday:

Karns City @ Redbank Valley