KARNS CITY — Steve Black spun through the lane, jumped high in the air and banked the basketball off the backboard for an easy layup.

Mark Ferguson dribbled to his left, hopped into the lane and gently tossed the ball through the hoop with a finger roll.

Whenever the Karns City boys basketball team wanted to penetrate the lane against North Clarion Wednesday night, it did with rousing success in a 75-56 home rout.

"The film we saw on them and the word that was out on them, (penetrating) was something we knew we could do," said Karns City coach Steve Andreassi. "And we did a good job doing it."

Black scored 25 points and Ferguson added 21 for Karns City, which shot out to an 18-3 lead with just five minutes gone in the game.

North Clarion (5-8, 1-6) rallied in the second quarter — its only good eight minutes of the game — to cut the lead to six at the break.

But Karns City regained its advantage in the third quarter by scoring inside and outside and by overwhelmingly winning the rebounding battle.

"Coming out in the first quarter, we just played horrible," said North Clarion coach Ryan Cornercki. "It was like we were still on the bus."

Karns City (6-9, 5-1) went on a 19-4 run to begin the third quarter to put the game far out of reach.

Justin Schmader did all he could do to keep North Clarion alive after the sluggish start. He scored 22 points in the first half and finished with 31 points.

He has been averaging 30 or more points for much of the season.

Karns City did a good job shutting down the Wolves' other scorer, Cory McLaughlin, getting him in foul trouble early and holding him to only seven points.

At 5-1 in the Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference, the Gremlins are right where they want to be.

"One of our goals coming into the season was to win the conference," Andreassi said. "We are within striking distance of doing that."

NORTH CLARION 56

Cory McLaughlin 3-11 1-4 7, Justin Schmader 11-19 7-8 31, Tyler Weaver 2-4 0-0 4, Nate Smerker 1-2 0-0 3, Derek Weaver 0-3 3-3 3, Jason Amsler 0-0 0-0 0, Eric Graham 1-1 0-0 2, Cody Whitton 1-2 1-3 3, A.J. Schwabenbauer 1-1 0-0 3, Mack Ochs 0-1 0-0 0, Jordan Ochs 0-0 0-0 0, Tyler Obenrader 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 20-44 12-18 56

KARNS CITY 75

Mike Senopole 2-3 0-0 4, Steve Black 10-15 3-3 25, Mike McConnell 0-3 1-2 1, Cameron Turner 3-12 2-2 8, Kody Craig 0-0 0-0 0, Matt McConnell 0-2 0-0 0, Kyle Davis 0-0 0-0 0, Mark Ferguson 5-14 8-8 21, Trevor Williams 0-1 0-0 0, Jeremy Bowser 2-3 0-0 5, Charlie Zaludek 3-8 3-6 9, Kevin Beck 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 26-63 17-21 75

3-point goals:

Schmader 2, Smerker, Schwabenbauer, Black 2, Ferguson 3, Bowser

JV:

Karns City 38-37

Friday:

Karns City at Clarion