CHERRY TWP — Chandler Turner may not have the freshest of legs, but you wouldn’t have known it Wednesday night.

Karns City’s junior forward, one of eight players on the Gremlin boys basketball roster who wrapped up their football season less than two weeks ago, scored 19 points — 13 coming in the second half — and grabbed 13 rebounds in a 67-52 victory at Moniteau.

Turner, a running back/linebacker on the gridiron, said the key to success on the court is attention to detail.

“I push myself through practice,” he said. “That way, I’m ready for whatever happens in a game. I feel I still have a lot of energy. I’m a bit tired, but I work through it.”

For a team still trying to get into basketball shape, the Gremlins won the all-important battle for rebounds against the Warriors by a 44-28 count.

“That’s one area where we have done well,” said Gremlin coach Chris Bellis. “In our first game against Union (a 62-49 loss last Friday), we out-rebounded them 42-29. Unfortunately, a lot of the rebounds have come on the offensive end because we are not converting our shots.”

Karns City (1-1, 1-1) made enough of them through the first 23 minutes to hold a 50-32 lead. In the final minute of the third quarter, however, Moniteau’s Aaron Marterella sank two baskets sandwiched around one from Derek Boben and KC’s lead was cut to 50-38.

“We played with energy and urgency the whole game,” said Moniteau coach Jerrod Markle, “but it took us three quarters to come together. We try to keep the offense balanced and have confidence in a lot of guys.”

J.J. Waid continued the Warrior run with a conventional 3-point play early in the fourth period and Moniteau (1-5, 1-2) was down by just nine points.

That’s when Gremlin junior guard Noah Pollock drained a 3-pointer to break Moniteau’s momentum with 6:50 left in the game.

“That was a big shot by Noah,” said Bellis. “Our guys never lost their cool.”

Because of the football season extending into December, KC’s basketball team did not play in a tip-off tournament and its game against Keystone Dec. 9 was postponed.

“We’re happy to come in and get that first win,” Bellis added. “We could have played better, but that is to be expected with as little as we’ve played. Moniteau played hard the whole game, they always do. It’s that way every time we come in here.”

Neither team shot well from the free-throw line. The Gremlins were just 15-of-39 while Moniteau was 15-of-32.

Pollock added 11 points for Karns City. Marterella (15) and Waid (14) scored in double digits for the Warriors.

KARNS CITY 67

Noah Pollock 3 4-5 11, Holden Martin 2 1-2 6, Ben Ealy 3 0-2 6, Ian McElroy 3 3-4 9, Jimmy Thompson 2 2-2 6, Reese Barger 3 3-9 9, Jacob Friel 0 1-6 1, Chandler Turner 9 1-7 19, Dom Callihan 0 0-2 0. Totals: 25 15-39 67.

MONITEAU 52

Derek Boben 3 1-2 8, J.J. Waid 5 3-5 14, Jake Jewart 4 1-4 9, Nate Sosigian 1 0-3 3, Aaron Marterella 4 7-14 15, Josh Adamson 0 3-4 3, Ross Tenney 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 15-32 52.

Karns City 16 15 19 17 — 67

Moniteau8 13 17 14 — 52

3-point goals: Karns City 2 (Pollock, Martin); Moniteau 3 (Boben, Waid, Sosigian).

Friday: A-C Valley at Karns City; Moniteau at Redbank Valley