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Knights use big first half to dominate the Cardinals

By Craig Olson, 12/08/21, 12:15AM CST

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The West Central Area Knights built a 46-18 halftime lead against the Staples-Motley Cardinals on Tuesday night in Barrett enrout to a 69-42 win.

Knights Coach Kraig Hunter said, "Our defensive pressure was very good tonight. We were very active and totally disrupted their offense in the first half.  When we had the ball, they tried man-to-man and zone against us and I felt we moved the ball very well in both, getting assists on many of our baskets.  We got to play all 14 players for extensive minutes in the second half. We are playing well as a team so far with everyone being very unselfish and all 14 guys contributing."

 

The Knights made 26-54 shots for 48% and hit 9-26 threes for 35%.  They only made 8-17 free throws.  The Cardinals made 16-44 shots for 37% and only 2-20 threes.  They made 8-12 from the free throw line.  The Knights held a 33-29 edge on the boards and forced the Cardinals into 25 turnovers.

Cole Anderson scored 17 points, dished out 3 assists, and had 3 steals. Ryder Staples had 16 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals, and Cam Anderson was also in double figures with 10 points, 3 assists, and 2 steals.

Hunter said one player who impacted the game a lot was Nas Dotts. "Nas was all over the floor tonight making plays in many areas."  Dotts had 8 points, 5 steals, 3 assists, 3 rebounds, and 6 deflections.

Mitch Dewey also scored 8 points, had 4 rebounds, an assist, a steal and took a charge. Peyton Hanson had 4 points, 2 rebounds and a steal; Jacob Strunk had 3 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals; and Isaac Kreft had 2 points and 4 rebounds.  Hunter said, "Isaac helped spark us early with three offensive boards and he also does a lot of little things that don't show up in the stats as far as screening and someone we can trust in our team defense."

Damon Sanstead rounded out the scoring with 1 point,1 rebound and 1 assist.  Bryce Kjesbo had 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and took a charge. Roman Mihailovshi had 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and a steal. Brayden Stark had a steal and Tyler Biss had one blocked shot.

Scoring for the Cardinals were Schultz with 11, Braith 9, Miller 7, Klefsaas 5, Schimpp 4, Henniger 2, Brownwell 2, Kobliska 2.

The Knights are now 2-0 and will travel to CGB on Thursday, December 9th