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Knights Fall to Panthers on the Road

By Craig Olson, 03/02/19, 7:30AM CST

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The West Central Area Knights travelled to Parkers Prairie on Friday night and ran into a tough well-balanced team on their Senior Night falling 52-70. 

"We got beat by a good team.  We hit a dry spell midway through the first half where we didn't score for several minutes.  We cut back into their lead with a few minutes to go in the half until reserve Eli Simonson hit three big threes, including one that banked in, to end the half to put us down 35-22 at the half", said Knight Coach Kraig Hunter.

 

"We came out and played much better in the second half starting on a 7-2 run to get right back in the game at 29-37.  After turning the ball over 13 times in the first half, we only turned it over 4 times in the second half.  We had some guys get to the hole and hit some shots in the second half but could never cut into the lead as they always had an answer.  We had to start gambling in the last few minutes giving up some easy baskets making the final margin 52-70.  They have a well- balanced team with big guys, shooters, and an excellent point guard."

 

Leaders for the Knights were Jack VanKempen with 18 points and 6 rebounds; Gage Staples played a solid well-rounded game with 13 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 assists.  Grant Beuckens added 11 points, 4 steals, and 3 assists; Teigen Moritz had  4 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 steals; Jacob Bright had 4 points and 3 assists; Blake Koloski added 2 points; Gavin Paulson contributed 3 rebounds, 1 steal, and 1 assist and Tate Christenson had 2 steals and 1 rebound.

 

Point Guard Alex Koep paced the Panthers with 23 points while brother Noah Koep had 13 points.  Travis Yohnke scored 10, Eli Simonson 9, Andrew Warren 8, Josh Helling 6, and Guy Euteneuer 1.

 

The Knights finish the regular season 14-9 while the Panthers move to 21-4.