Karns City erupts in 73-point win
KARNS CITY — Prior to Wednesday night’s matchup with Forest Area, Karns City seniors Braden Grossman and Micah Rupp were celebrated as part of their team’s senior night festivities. Once the ball tipped off, it seemed as if them and their teammates were in a hurry to get to more pressing Wednesday night plans.
Grossman scored 12 points, Rupp 11, and four other Gremlins reached double-figures as they put out the Fires in an emphatic 90-17 final.
“I didn’t expect 90,” said Rupp, whose total included a two-hand jam in the second quarter of the boys basketball clash. “It was pretty cool, watching all of the young guys get buckets like that. We were trying to put up 100.”
Nonetheless, their output was something Karns City hasn’t seen. Not in recent memory, at least.
“That’s what the kids were saying as it kind of was happening,” Gremlins coach Zach Kepple said. “They were asking, like, ‘Hey, how many points have we scored before in the past? I couldn’t tell you what our high was. (It’s) definitely a high, at least since I’ve been the head coach and as far as when I was the assistant.
“I don’t think we’ve ever broke 90. It was pretty cool to see that happen tonight.”
Taite Beighley sank Karns City’s first basket just two seconds in. They led by 10 just over a minute in and pinned up the contest’s first 14 points. By the time the buzzer sounded on the first half, the Gremlins (8-2) sat on a 43-point cushion.
“One thing we struggled with at the beginning of the year was that we started slow,” Kepple said. “We started slow on Monday versus DuBois, too. But we got to a fast start tonight, so hopefully we can continue to use that little bit of momentum moving on for the rest of the season.”
“We knew we couldn’t stay relaxed,” said Grossman, who posted all but two of his points in the third frame. “We just needed to keep up the intensity.”
Kepple let him and Rupp know at the midway point that he didn’t know exactly how long he was going to leave them in out of the break. The congratulatory feel left them to their devices for almost all of the third frame.
“I told them to go ahead let it loose, so they did,” Kepple said. “I told them to touch it, they could shoot it ... They made the most of their opportunities.”
Following the break, the Gremlins didn’t let their foot off the gas, crashing the offensive boards and forcing Forest (0-11) into mistakes. With 3:03 remaining in the third, Rupp knocked down his only trey of the game and Grossman followed suit on the next possession. The former fed the latter underneath the hoop for a layup after that, then they tried something that would have capped it all off.
On a fast break with the opponents to their backs, Rupp dished the ball forward with an alley-oop off the backboard in mind.
“He passed me the ball and I hear him just behind my ear (saying), ‘Throw it up!’” Grossman said. “I threw it off the glass, it was just a little too high.”
“We were trying to get a lob down for all the home fans here,” Rupp added. “It would’ve been fun.”
Don’t worry, the two enjoyed themselves plenty. As did Shane Peters (14 points), Hobie Bartoe (13), Jacob Jones (12) and Beighley (11).
FOREST AREA 17
Mitch Bowden 6, Nathan Dietrich 4, Daniel Custer 3, Zach Carll 2. Totals: 6 4-6 17.
KARNS CITY 90
Shane Peters 6 2-3 14, Hobie Bartoe 6 0-0 13, Braden Grossman 5 0-0 12, Jacob Jones 4 2-2 12, Taite Beighley 5 0-0 11, Micah Rupp 5 0-0 11, Derrick Johns 3 0-0 6, Griffin Booher 1 0-0 2, Jacob Callihan 3 3-4 9, Joey O’Donnell 0 0-2 0. Totals: 38 7-11 90.
Forest Area 4 6 0 7 — 17
Karns City 33 20 19 18 — 90
3-point goals: Karns City 7 (Grossman 2, Jones 2, Rupp, Bartoe, Beighley); Forest 1 (Custer)
Friday: Karns City at A-C Valley
