Karns City point guard Chase Beighley drives toward the basket against Keystone during the Gremlins' 62-46 boys basketball win Wednesday night. Beighley had nine points and eight rebounds.

KARNS CITY — Field goal percentage is always a key stat in basketball, but it loses some of its importance when a team dominates the boards as Karns City did Wednesday night.

Despite making just 30 percent (10 of 33) of its attempts from the floor in the first half, the Gremlins still managed a nine-point lead against Keystone at the break thanks to a 25-11 edge on the boards, many of the rebounds coming on the offensive end.

Shooting improved for KC in the second half and the Gremlins' lead was never threatened in a 62-46 boys basketball victory.

It was the sixth straight win for Karns City (10-1).

For the game, the Gremlins out-rebounded the Panthers 39-19.

“We have some other big guys inside and we feel like we should control the boards in every game,” said 6-foot-5 senior forward Nathan Waltman, who grabbed nine rebounds. “It's always one of our goals.”

The Gremlins had two possessions in the game that featured four shots and multiple others that included three shots thanks to their rebounding prowess.

“Keystone was switching things up a lot on defense, playing a lot of different zones,” said KC coach Chris Bellis. “When a team does that, sometimes its hard for the players to know who they should box out. We figured we would do pretty well on the glass tonight.”

The majority of the Gremlins' misses in the first half came from the outside. In all, they were off the mark on their first 14 attempts from beyond the arc, a stretch that carried into the third quarter.

“We didn't plan on taking that many 3s,” Bellis said. “We just come out, run our stuff and take what the defense gives us. Keystone kept a lot of guys in the paint. In the second half, we started going through the paint to get those outside shots, started kicking the ball out.”

The Gremlins made five treys in eight attempts over the final two quarters. Junior Cole Sherwin knocked down three of them, including two in the third quarter as KC's lead swelled to 46-26 by the end of the period.

Waltman scored a game-high 20 points and added six assists while freshman Luke Cramer had 14 points.

Micah Rupp pulled down 14 boards, Chase Beighley had eight.

“We have a unique set of guys,” said Bellis of his team's ability on the glass. “We've got a lot of size and we box out well. It's a team effort, for sure.”

Bret Wingard and Colin Say both scored 14 points for the Panthers (4-2) as Keystone scored 20 points in the final period.

KEYSTONE 46Logan Sell 4 0-0 9, Keenan Heeter 1 0-2 2, Bret Wingard 7 0-0 14, Zander McHenry 0 2-2 2, Colin Say 6 0-0 14, Brandon Pierce 1 2-2 5. Totals: 19 4-6 46.

KARNS CITY 62Cole Sherwin 3 0-0 9, Micah Rupp 1 2-2 4, Chase Beighley 2 4-4 9, Luke Cramer 6 1-3 14, Luke Garing 3 0-1 6, Nathan Waltman 9 2-3 20, Eric Booher 0 0-0 0, Taite Beighley 0 0-0 0, Jake Callihan 0 0-0 0, Braden Grossman 0 0-0 0. Totals: 24 9-13 62.Keystone 10 4 12 20 — 46Karns City15 8 23 16 — 623-point goals: Keystone 4 (Say 2, Sell, Pierce); Karns City 5 (Sherwin 3, C. Beighley, Cramer).Friday: Karns City at Cranberry