The Salina Central Mustangs produced a second straight strong performance in the 42nd Annual Salina Invitational Tournament on Saturday, defeating Concordia 50-34 to place 5th.

The Mustangs started the game with a 9-0 run along with some solid defense and led the Concordia Panthers 9-6 after the first quarter.  It was more of the same in quarter number two, with the Mustangs knocking down some 3’s and going 4-4- from the charity strip advancing their lead to 25-15 at halftime.

Mustang Head Coach Ryan Modin was pleased with his team’s defensive performance, that created a rash of turnovers on the Panthers and in turn, gave the Central offense several scoring opportunities taking their lead to 36-24 after the 3rd quarter.

The game was never in doubt for the Mustangs, as senior Reed McHenry led all scorers with 20 points and 7 rebounds, junior Nolan Puckett hit four big 3’s and a duce in the game for his 14 points, senior Caden Kickhaefer added 7 and junior Parker Kavanagh added 5.

Concordia was not able to get the ball inside the paint as much as their game plan called for, as defensive steals by Central’s Caden Kickhaefer prevented the Panthers from getting the ball to the big men on the post.

The Panthers had two players with double figures, including junior Cav Carlgren with 12 and senior Wyatt Trost adding 10, Concordia drops to 4-5 on the season and will return to NCKL action next week with Abilene.

The Mustangs improved to 4-7 on the season and have a tough match-up next Friday, as they battle the undefeated #1 team in 5A the Hays High Indians on the road in non-league action.