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Knights win home opener over Menahga

By Craig Olson, 12/04/21, 10:15PM CST

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The West Central Area Knights opened their boys' basketball season with a 71-45 win over the Menahga Braves on Saturday afternoon in Barrett.

"Like any first game of the season, there are a lot of areas for improvement.  But overall,with many guys playing their first varsity game, it was a good day as far as intensity and playing unselfish. All 14 of our players that played contributed. It was a good team win", said Knights Coach Kraig Hunter.  

Leading the Knights were Ryder Staples with 18 points, 5 rebounds and 4 steals; Jacob Strunk with 13 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals; and Cole Anderson with 12 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 steals.

Cam Anderson added 8 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, and led the team with 5 assists; Nasir Dotts also had 8 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and led the team with 5 steals; Mitch Dewey had 6 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists and Bryce Kjesbo had 4 points and added a rebound, an assist, and a steal.

Rounding out the scoring was Tyler Biss with 1 point, 1 rebound and 1 assist and Brayden Stark with 1 point and 3 steals.  Isaac Kreft had 2 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal; Roman Mihailovschi contributed 2 rebounds and 2 assists; Peyton Hanson had 2 rebounds and a steal, and Damon Sanstead had 2 rebounds.

Scoring for Menahga were Christian Johnson with 13, Nick Wurdock with 10, Alec Aho with 9, Ryan Tolkkinen 4, Knaylor Howard 4, Brayden Aho 3, and Connor Korvela 2.

The Knights made 24-63 shots for 38% including 9-34 threes and made 14-22 free throws for 64%.  The Knights defense forced 26 Braves turnovers and held the Braves to 15-55 shooting for 27%.  The Braves did make 7-20 threes and but only shot 8-18 from the free throw line.  The Braves had a slight edge on the boards grabbing 46 to 43 for the Knights.

The Knights will host Staples-Motley on Tuesday night in Barrett.