The Knights found themselves down 16-2 to start the game as Titans hit six of their first seven shots including four 3’s.  “Things didn’t look very good at that point getting down that much to such a good team,” said Knight Coach Kraig Hunter. “But our guys have had poise all year and they never doubt themselves. There’s no panic and they methodically put on a good clinic of basketball the rest of the first half on a 25-3 run to take a 27-19 lead at halftime.”

“NCE-UH started the second half the same way as the first and we didn’t have a good shooting night as they outscored us 17-3 to start the second half and took a 36-30 lead.  In games like these where things aren’t going smoothly, you have to dig down and find ways to make plays and our guys did that finishing the game by outscoring NCE-UH 16-9 down the stretch.”

“Tate Christenson was in foul trouble but when he got back on the floor, he sparked us with a couple of steals, a driving layup and a couple of great passes. Tate also made the last play of the game by sniffing out what they were doing on a last second out-of-bounds play and batting the ball away to save the game.  Jack VanKempen had several huge rebounds in crunch time where he just went up over everybody and ripped it down. Grant Beuckens converted a couple of driving layups and got a key steal in the last minute, Jacob Bright hit a timely three and one of the biggest keys was Gage Staples defense with the help of his teammates limiting 6’8 All-State forward Broden Lien to 9 points. Ryder Staples and Brady Reeve both made some good plays off the bench during that stretch as well. Our coaching staff was extremely proud of our “GRIT” down the stretch in battling back from such big deficits and finding a way,” concluded Hunter.

The Knights only hit 18-46 shots for 41% and only hit 4-18 threes and 6-11 free throws.  However, their defense held NCE to 16-50 for 32%.  The Knights forced 11 turnovers while committing 9.  The Titans held a 37-27 rebounding edge.

Leaders for the Knights were Jack VanKempen with 12 points and 8 rebounds; Grant Beuckens with 12 points, 7 rebounds and 2 steals; Gage Staples with 10 points and 5 rebounds; Jacob Bright with 6 points; Tate Christenson with 3 points, 3 assists, 4 rebounds and 4 steals; Ryder Staples with 3 points and 2 assists; and Brady Reeve grabbed 2 rebounds.

Scoring for NCE-UH were Logan Miller with 11, Broden Lien 9, Riley Rensick 9, Parker Lien 6, Morgan Stueness 6, Tate Sagedahl 2, and Trenton Klemetson 2.

The Knights (18-2) will host Ortonville on Thursday night.