Knights Coach Kraig Hunter said, "First off, hats off to Coach Garvin and the Hillcrest players. Coach Garvin does a good job and their players buy in. It was a game that had a playoff intensity as the kids from both teams played extremely hard.   We knew they were going to make a run. They have multiple three-point threats and when they were down, they were shooting with nothing to lose.  The game was very physical and I give credit to our kids for handling the tough atmosphere and the poise we had at the end."

“Every guy on our team brought some kind of energy tonight. Whether it was on the bench or on the court.  We're proud of our kids, they played the game the right way.   'We above me', that’s Knights basketball, being unselfish. This group has become the hard work, everyday guys. It pays off, the game was extremely physical but we’re used to playing this way every day in practice.” 

The Knights shot 46% hitting 21-46 shots and 7-19 on threes for 37%. The Knights also made 14-21 free throws for 67%.  The Comets hit 19-56 shots for 34% and made 9-25 threes for 36% and made 11-15 free throws.  The Knights held a 38-32 edge on the boards and they turned the ball over 10 times compared to 7 for the Comets.

Grant Beuckens led the Knights with 22 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists. Brady Reeve added 15 points and 8 rebounds including going 10-11 from the charity stripe.  Ryder Staples was also in double figures with 11 points, 7 rebounds, 5 blocked shots and 2 steals and Tate Christenson played his normal all-around game with 8 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals.

Also contributing for the Knights was Xander Bontjes with 4 points and 4 rebounds; Jacob Strunk with 2 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal, Cole Anderson with 1 point, 3 rebounds and 3 assists, and Cam Anderson with 1 rebound.

Hunter also noted Beuckens defense. "Grant can score the ball, but most importantly Grant can guard. We've seen how multi-talented Micah Foss is with a combination of shooting and quickness and Grant was able to hold him to 10 points.  I also like our balance on offense, we are having multiple guys score and step up each night."

Sam Brumfield led the Comets with 19 points, Zeke Ihrke had 11 and Foss 10.  Also scoring for the Comets were Noah Brumfield with 8, Caden Fisher with 7, and Yuchan Ha with 3.

“Tough one tonight as we knew it would be,” said Hillcrest Coach Ryan Garvin. “Our first 10 minutes and last 10 minutes were great but we finished the first half sputtering and committed turnovers on multiple possessions in a row to start the second half; an 8 point deficit became 26 in a short span. We went on a great run especially over the last 6 or 7 minutes that was almost entirely due to our defensive ball pressure. But we ran out of time against an aggressive and physical and well-coached West Central team.

Very proud of the way our young men finished. They showed a lot of character in how they battled back.”

The Knights finish the regular season with a 13-4 record.  Hillcrest finishes 11-6.   Due to the fact that Hillcrest and Brandon-Evansville do not play every conference team twice, those games count double in the points standings.  The final Pheasant Conference Standings are as follows: