"Two things come to mind to sum up this game," said Knights Coach Kraig Hunter. "One is defense, we talk about defense being the backbone of our program and good defense allows you to still win when you don't have good shooting nights.  Secondly, one of the quotes we use from the legendary Don Meyer is 'you've got to find a way to win when the ball doesn't bounce your way.'   The ball definitely didn't bounce our way in any aspect of the game tonight, yet our kids played poised, played good defense, and made winning plays.  In the second half, we took four charges and controlled the boards.  We were able to come out of halftime and build a ten point lead. Wheaton hit three 3's in the final two minutes but we knocked down clutch free throws to seal the win.  Tate Christenson was clutch from the line in the end like he has done many times before going 6-6 in the final minutes."

Leading scorers for the Knights were Grant Beuckens with 11, Cam Anderson with 8 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists and Christenson with 8 points, 4 rebounds, 4 steals, and 3 assists.

Xander Bontjes had 5 points, Cole Anderson 5 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals; Ryder Staples with 4 points and 5 rebounds; Brady Reeve with 4 points and 10 rebounds; and Jacob Strunk with 2 points, 5 rebounds and a steal.

"Brady really did a good job on the boards," said Hunter. “When you are having poor shooting nights, you just can't allow teams second chance points and Brady controlled the boards especially in the second half.  We needed everyone's contributions in grind out wins like this. Our bench play from Cam Anderson, Bontjes, and Strunk was important. Xander kept us in the game in the first half with a couple of crucial buckets, and Jacob's five rebounds mostly on hustle plays are huge in games like this."  

The Knights only made 16-47 shots for 34% and only three 3's. They continue to be hot from the line going 12-16 for 75%.  Wheaton hit 16-40 shots and 6-15 threes.  They made 4-8 free throws.  The two teams both had 30 rebounds.  The Knights took good care of the ball only turning it over 10 times compared to 14 for the Warriors.

Scoring for Wheaton was Clint Determan with 10, Grant Dawson 10, Dylan Bainbridge 9, Zach Braaten 5, Andrew Walker-Hanneman 4, Bryant Callenios 2, and Gunner Marinek 2.

"We played a very good game and had a chance to get the win tonight," said Head Coach Jordon Roos of the Warriors.  "A few more rebounds and a few less turnovers and we would have been in great shape.  Our defense was solid all night and gave us a chance."

West Central Area (9-4) will host Ortonville on Friday night.

Wheaton/Herman-Norcross (6-7) will host Battle Lake on Saturday afternoon.