Kenyon Puls, Parker Virtue Have Career Nights Against Shamrocks

Kenyon Puls and Parker Virtue had career nights for Gilman City Thursday, with Puls going off for 24 points and Virtue getting 15 points against North Harrison Thursday. The game, between two football partners, turned into a track meet with both teams trying to run each other out of the gym. But in a game like that, it takes stops and defensive boards to get going, and it was Gilman City with the 50-30 rebounding advantage for the night. The result was that Gilman City got a 74-58 win over North Harrison and has now won six out of their last seven games.

With all the defensive attention on Landon Preston and Camden Griffith, it was only a matter of time before Puls went off at some point; his coach, Tony Gregg, said that he had scored in bunches before, but this was the first time Puls had put it all together. And Parker Virtue, after getting in some initial foul trouble, suddenly managed to stay on the floor for the whole game, getting 15 points.

When Puls hit an initial 3-pointer right off the bat, his confidence went sky-high, and he added a 3-point play later in the quarter to put the Hawks up 8-3. North Harrison fought back as Jensen Davis hit a 3-pointer and added a free throw. Gilman City's starting big man, Jace Estrada, got into foul trouble and Gage Fortner shot the Shamrocks into an 11-9 lead. But in stepped Parker Virtue into the void, scoring from inside and getting a putback to put the Hawks up 13-11.

Camden Griffith slashed down the left baseline to put the Hawks up 17-14 after one. Davis scored after Owan Roberson aired one out to him to make it 17-16, but then the relentless crashing of the boards for the Hawks started paying off as Griffith scored from inside, Puls went coast to coast, and Dakota Meringa hit a free throw to put them up 22-16. North Harrison fought back as Jensen Davis hit a 3-pointer and Wyatt Maize scored a backdoor layup and went coast to coast on another play to make it 25-24, but Puls' third chance putback made it 27-23 at the half.

But the Shamrocks started hanging around in the third quarter as they put in both their big men, Owan Roberson and Andrew Craig, and started feeding Craig at will. Craig scored 10 points in the period and finally, North Harrison tied it at 37-37 when Wyatt Maize scored off a drive. But Camden Griffith stole an outlet pass after the Shamrocks had gotten a stop, and that turned out to be costly as Gilman City went back in front to stay after Griffith hit a free throw. Puls went coast to coast following a Hawk stop and hit two free throws to make it 40-37. Owan Roberson cut it to 40-39, but then Parker Virtue went off again for the Hawks, scoring six points in a 1:32 stretch as Gilman City stretched its lead to 46-41. Andrew Craig cut it to 46-43, but then the backbreaker came when Kenyon Puls hit a guarded three from the right wing at the buzzer to make it 49-43.

The momentum continued to swing in the Hawks favor to start the fourth as Puls got a putback and Dakota Meringa scored to make it 53-43 to force a Shamrock timeout. Following the timeout, the Shamrocks fought back as Wyatt Maize hit a 3-pointer and Jensen Davis hit two free throws to cut it to 53-48. But then Roberson picked up his fourth foul and the Hawks stopped the bleeding as Camden Griffith started taking over, getting a putback. Evan Schreiber's 3-pointer cut it to 57-53 with 4:10 left, but after running their four corners for a little bit, Camden Griffith got loose for three and then added an inside shot set up by a Kenyon Puls drive and bullet ball to make it 62-53.

Wyatt Maize cut it to 62-55 with 2:23 left, but then North Harrison was forced to start fouling and Gilman City pulled away at the free throw line.

For North Harrison, Wyatt Maize had 18 points, Jensen Davis 16, Andrew Craig 10, Gage Fortner 9, Evan Schreiber 3, and Owan Roberson 2.

Dustin Hamilton, Jensen Davis, and Owan Roberson had 1 block each.

Andrew Craig had 9 boards. Evan Schreiber had 7, Gage Fortner and Owan Roberson 6 each, Wyatt Maize 4, Dustin Hamilton 3, and Jensen Davis 2.

Wyatt Maize had 9 assists. Jensen Davis had 4, Gage Fortner 3, Owan Roberson and Dustin Hamilton 2, and Andrew Craig 1.

Gage Fortner had 4 tips. Dustin Hamilton and Owan Roberson had 2 each and Jensen Davis and Wyatt Maize 1 each.

Gage Fortner had 3 steals. Wyatt Maize had 2 and Andrew Craig, Dustin Hamilton, Owan Roberson, and Evan Schreiber had 1 each.

Kenyon Puls had 24 points. Camden Griffith had 16, Parker Virtue had 15, Landon Preston 11, Dakota Meringa 6, and Bo Eads 2.

Kenyon Puls, Parker Virtue, and Camden Griffith had 1 block each.

Kenyon Puls had 12 boards to complete a double-double. Camden Griffith also had a double-double, getting 10 boards. Parker Virtue had 9, Bo Eads 6, Landon Preston 5, Dakota Meringa and Jace Estrada 3, and Alex Young 2.

Landon Preston and Camden Griffith had 5 assists. Kenyon Puls had 3, and Bo Eads, Dakota Meringa, and Jace Estrada had 1 each.

Landon Preston had 3 tips. Camden Griffith and Jace Estrada had 2 and Kenyon Puls had 1.

Landon Preston had 4 steals. Kenyon Puls and Camden Griffith had 2 while Bo Eads and Parker Virtue had 1 each.