KARNS CITY — Saturday afternoon's loss, Karns City's first of the season, was a bitter pill for the Gremlins to swallow.

Leading a good Redbank Valley team by seven points with 2½ minutes to play, KC ended up on the short end of a 54-52 decision.

“There were some things that were out of our control and we made a couple of bad decisions,” said KC coach Chris Bellis. “Just about everything that could go wrong did go wrong for us late in the game.”

As sophomore forward Micah Rupp put it: “That loss was very aggravating, but there's nothing we can do about it now.”

Just get back to playing winning basketball, which the Gremlins did Tuesday night.

Trailing Brockway by three points late in the opening quarter, KC used the rest of the first half to drop a 37-4 run on the visiting Rovers and coasted to a 66-35 victory.

“We talk to the guys about how to respond to adversity. We definitely found a bit of that with Saturday's game,” said Bellis. “Tonight was a good win. We got nine guys in the game in the first half and we played as a team.”

The Gremlins (5-1) have a unique starting lineup. The team starts two seniors in Chase Beighley and Nathan Waltman, a junior in Cole Sherwin, sophomore Rupp and Luke Cramer, a freshman.

The wide range of class and experience hasn't hindered the Gremlins.

“The team has really good chemistry,” said Chase Beighley, who scored 27 points to lead all scorers Tuesday. “We play well together and it's a fun locker room.”

Players seem to be thriving in their roles. Chase Beighley leads the team in scoring with well over 20 points per game, but is receiving no shortage of support. Waltman, a 6-foot-5 forward, scored 12 points and pulled down 15 rebounds against Brockway (0-3).

“He's averaging a double-double,” said Bellis. “He's more mobile this year and is one of our best passers.”

Rupp, who saw significant playing time last year as a freshman, is also a force on the boards and brings an important intangible to the court.

“We talk about communication all the time, especially on defense,” said Bellis. “And Micah is very vocal. He's only a sophomore and I think we've seen just the tip of the iceberg with him.”

Beighley referred to Luke Garing, a reserve forward, as the best defender on the team.

It remains to be seen what level of success the Gremlins meet with this season. But so far, so good.

Said Bellis: “We've been pretty solid considering this group has played together for just six games.”

BROCKWAY 35

Aiden Bullers 1 0-0 3, Noah Adams 3 0-0 8, Marcus Copelli 3 0-0 8, Lewis Painter 2 0-1 4, Austin Schmader 1 3-4 5, Jared Marchiori 1 0-2 2, Alex Carlson 2 1-1 5. Totals: 13 4-8 35.

KARNS CITY 66

Eric Booher 1 0-0 3, Cole Sherwin 2 0-0 4, Taite Beighley 2 1-3 6, Micah Rupp 2 0-0 4, Chase Beighley 9 7-8 27, Luke Cramer 1 0-0 3, Jake Callihan 1 0-0 2, Luke Garing 2 1-2 5, Nathan Waltman 5 2-3 12, Braden Grossman 0 0-0 0, Nick Slomer 0 0-0 0. Totals: 25 11-16 66.

Brockway 8 4 12 11 — 35

Karns City17 25 16 8 — 66

3-point goals: Brockway 5 (Adams 2, Copelli 2, Bullers); Karns City 5 (C. Beighley 2, Cramer, T. Beighley, Booher).

Friday: Karns City at Punxsutawney