After falling behind 4-0 to start the game, the Pratt High School boys basketball team turned up its defense and cruised to a 61-34 win last night in Kingman.
The Greenbacks trailed 4-0 when Micah Swank beat everyone down the floor, got a layup and converted the three-point play with 7:02 left in the first quarter.
From there on, it was all Pratt as the Greenbacks ran off 14 straight points and slowly pulled away from there.
PHS took its first lead of the night when Skylar Angood hit a pair of free throws with 6:27 on the clock, and just seconds later, Swank stole a pass at midcourt. That led to Brady Batman being fouled on a putback, and the senior hit both charities for a 7-4 lead with 6:15 left.
At the 2:20 mark, Matt Swank got a steal and a basket for a 10-4 edge.
He scored again 20 seconds later off an assist from Micah Swank, and with 27 seconds left, Skylar Angood scored off yet another Greenback steal.
Pratt had nine steals in the first quarter as Kingman turned the ball over 13 times in the opening eight minutes.
With a 14-6 lead heading into the second quarter, Pratt kept putting points on the board as they stretched it to 29-14 at halftime.
“I thought our pressure really bothered them in the first half andwe converrted enough of those plays,” PHS coach David Swank said. “We didn’t convert all of them, but we did convert most of them and built a nice lead.”
Pratt hit eight of 23 shots in the first half while Kingman made four of ten field goal attempts. The Greenbacks were 11-for-15 at the free throw line in the first two quarters as Kingman struggled to keep up with Pratt’s fast-paced offense.
To start the third-quarter, Matt Swank buried back-to-back three-pointers to make it a 35-14 Pratt lead.
His third trifecta of the quarter put the Greenbacks up 40-19 with 2:46 left.
Senior Luke Southard’s driving basket with 20 seconds left sent PHS into the fourth quarter leading 42-21.
Though Kingman tried to rally, Pratt answered every time in the fourth quarter.
The Eagles had cut Pratt’s lead to 18 points with four minutes left, but the Greenbacks went on a 9-0 run to really seal the win.
That run included three straight free throws by Batman, a three-pointer from Brad Richardson, and a bucket by sophomore Austin McClain to put Pratt up 57-31 with 2:25 left.
The Greenbacks also got baskets from senior Cameron Ford and sophomore BJ Dean in the final minute of the 61-34 win.
Pratt wound up hitting 20 of 46 field goal attempts, including 12 of 23 in the second half. The Greenbacks were even better from long distance as they hit seven of 11 threes. Matt Swank’s four-for-four shooting from beyond the arc was a big part of that, and Richardson went two-for-three from downtown as well.
Meanwhile, Pratt held Kingman to 32 percent shooting (nine-for-28) from the floor and forced 24 turnovers.
The Greenbacks also had a 27-23 rebounding advantage, including an 18-10 margin in the second half.
Defense and rebounding were the keys, according to coach Swank.
“We had a lot of kids contribute with steals,” he said. “Really the key tonight was the defensive end. When we’re able to establish that kind of defensive consistency, that’s huge for us.”
Pratt also had a balanced scoring attack as nine players scored.
“We had a lot of kids contribute on the offensive end,” coach Swank said.
Matt Swank led the charge with 16 points on six-for-eight shooting from the floor. He also had two steals and two assists on the night.
Micah Swank added 11 points, six rebounds, five steals and three assists.
Richardson finished with eight points on three-for-five shooting while Batman had eight points, two assists and two steals, plus three offensive rebounds.
“Matt shot the ball in rhythm tonight, which he hasn’t done for a while. I thought Brad shot the ball in rhythm from the perimeter too,” coach Swank commented. “That can only help us down the road if those guys shoot the ball in rhythm.”
Angood added seven points and Southard had five to go with six rebounds and four steals.
Senior Rhett Hostetler grabbed a pair of rebounds while Edgar Elias and Payson Maydew also contributed for Pratt.
The Greenbacks combined to hit 14 of 21 free throws. Angood and Batman did most of that damage as they combined to hit eight of nine charities.
“Brady was six-for-seven from the free throw line tonight and that’s good,” Swank said.
Kingman (3-13) got 10 points from senior Layne Klausmeyer and eight from Mikabe Erdman.
Pratt improved to 14-2 on the season, and the Greenbacks are ranked seventh in the latest Hutchinson News Class 4A poll.
“It was a good solid victory and now we’ve got Scott City on the road Friday night,” Swank said.
Scott City (10-4) faced Ulysses (11-4) last night in Scott City, but the score from that game was not available at presstime.
Pratt (14-2, 5-0 MSAA) owns a win over both Scott City and Ulysses and can wrap up the league championship — and a top seed in the Class 4A Sub-State tournament — by winning the next three games.
The Greenbacks go to Scott City Friday before hosting Larned on Tuesday and Ulysses next Friday.
The Larned game will also be Senior Night for PHS, as the Ulysses games have been moved to PCC’s Beaver Dome due to the Class 4A Regional Wrestling Tournament that will be taking place at PHS on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 19 and 20.
Pratt 61, Kingman 34
PHS: Matt Swank 2 (4) 0-0 16, Micah Swank 4 3-6 11, Brady Batman 1 6-7 8, Brad Richardson 1 (2) 0-0 8, Skylar Angood 1 (1) 2-2 7, Luke Southard 1 3-6 5, BJ Dean 1 0-0 2, Cameron Ford 1 0-0 2, Austin McClain 1 0-0 2, Edgar Elias 0 0-0 0, Rhett Hostetler 0 0-0 0, Payson Maydew 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 13 (7) 14-21 61.
KHS: Layne Klausmeyer 3 (1) 0-1 10, Mikabe Erdman 1 (2) 0-2 8, Blake Bergkamp 1 2-4 4, Breck Knoblauch 0 4-4 4, Kyle McCormack 2 0-0 4, Stephen Gutierrez 0 2-2 2, Stone Hageman 0 1-2 1, Bryan Seunram 0 1-2 1. TOTALS 7 (3) 11-17 34.
P 14 15 13 19 — 61
K 6 8 7 13 — 34
