KARNS CITY — Big men have given the Karns City boys basketball team fits this season.

A-C Valley’s 6-foot-6 forward Allan Eaton was the latest.

Eaton scored a school-record 46 points and added 20 rebounds and five blocked shots as the Falcons beat the Gremlins 82-65 Friday night.

“In the first half, we tried to wear (Eaton) down. That didn’t work,” said Karns City coach Chris Bellis. “Then we tried a zone to try to make it difficult for him to the get the ball. That worked early, but they figured it out.”

Eaton helped A-C Valley build a 22-point lead early in the second half, and it looked like the Falcons were on their way to a rout.

But Karns City climbed back into the game, cutting the gap to 10 points late in the third quarter.

“We’re been experimenting with different lineups and we found a group that really worked well together,” Bellis said.

Tyler Kepple was one of those players who gave Karns City a spark. The freshman hit five of Karns City’s 11 3-pointers.

Jake Henry was another, leading the Gremlins with 18 points.

A-C Valley coach Jim Marron said he was not looking forward to playing Karns City and their lineup of five quick guards.

“How many 3s did they have?” Marron asked. When told the Gremlins had 11, he chuckled. “It seemed like (Kepple) had 11 by himself.

“It was kind of a give-and-take thing,” Marron added. “We had the size, but they had the speed. They are scrappy. They are as scrappy as any team we have played all year. They just didn’t have the size to guard Allan Eaton.”

The win was a big one for A-C Valley, which had lost four straight.

Breaking the losing skid was much more important to Eaton than the single-game scoring record.

“I had no idea I was going for the school record,” Eaton said. “I just wanted to win.”

Sophomores Ryan Bartley and Brody Irwin each added 10 points for the Falcons (7-6, 5-3).

A-C Valley still has some work to do to get back to the playoffs with a young team around Eaton.

“I have to hand it to my sophomores,” Marron said. “When the pressure was on, they maintained their cool and handled the ball.”

For Karns City (3-10, 3-6), it was just another frustrating loss in a frustrating season.

Bellis is seeing progress, but not enough to affect the won-loss columns.

“We’re getting better little by little,” Bellis said. “But at this point in the season, we need to get some victories. There are only so many moral victories to satisfy you. We need to turn the corner.”

A-C VALLEY 82Allan Eaton 17-26 10-14 46, Ryan Bartley 2-9 6-7 10, Brody Irwin 4-7 0-0 10, Jeff Eaton 1-5 2-2 4, Kevin Kaufman 2-6 5-7 9, Cole Terwilliger 0-1 1-4 1, Landon Delisio 1-1 0-0 2, Adam Hirsch 0-0 0-0 0, Andy Stewart 0-0 0-0 0, Keaton King 0-0 0-0 0.

Totals: 27-55 24-34 82.

KARNS CITY 65Brad Fuhrer 1-5 0-0 2, Anthony Easley 1-1 0-0 2, Brandyn Bowser 3-10 0-0 6, Jake Henry 7-14 3-4 18, Tyler Kepple 5-13 0-0 15, Zach Kepple 0-5 0-0 0, Mike Sinkevich 0-0 0-0 0, Dylan Hipple 0-2 0-0 0, Ethan Williams 2-8 2-2 7, Brady Ellenberger 0-2 0-0 0, Andrew Johnston 0-0 0-0 0, Tucker Preston 2-7 0-2 6, Josh Wallace 0-0 0-0 0, Kyle Barger 2-4 0-0 4, Tom Stoughton 1-2 1-2 3.

Totals: 24-73 6-10 65.

A-C Valley 25 21 11 25—82Karns City 15 11 19 20—653-point goals: A-C Valley 4 (A. Eaton 2, Irwin 2); Karns City 11 (Bowser 2, Henry, T. Kepple 5, Williams, Preston 2).

JV Score: Karns City 46-40

Monday: Keystone at Karns City; A-C Valley at West Forest