Knights put up 61 first half points in home opener
The West Central Area Knights built a 61-19 lead at halftime in their home opener vs the Battle Lake Battlers on Saturday afternoon. Every player on the Knights team got into the scoring column as the Knights went on to win 97-39.
Knights Coach Kraig Hunter said, "Battle Lake is going through a lot of adversity right now having Bradyn Roisum in the ATV accident this summer and having a few other injuries coming into the year. Their leading scorer, Jack Meckalson also got injured in the first half. Our team and community has the Roisum's and the Battle Lake team in our thoughts and prayers."
"With that said, we were very proud of all of our guys playing a high level of basketball. We were able to play all twelve players on our roster for extensive minutes tonight and got everyone in the scoring column. A lot of good energy on defense from everyone and a lot of unselfish passes on the offensive end again."
The Knights made 68% of their shots (41-60) and hit 9-20 threes for 45%. They made 6-9 free throws and won the rebounding battle 27-17.
Ben Bye throwing down a 2-handed dunk. PHOTO PROVIDED
Leaders for the Knights were Mitch Dewey (14 points, 4 assists, 4 steals and 2 rebounds); Cam Anderson (14 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 steals); Sam Hanson (13 points, 7 assists, 6 steals, 5 rebounds); Bryce Kjesbo (11 points, 5 assists, 2 steals, 1 rebound); Nas Dotts (10 points, 7 steals, and 3 rebounds); Brady Lindquist (9 points); Ben Bye (8 points, 5 steals, 3 rebounds, 1 assist); Marshall Dewey (7 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists); Carter Kjesbo (5 points and an assist), Simon Moritz (2 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assist, and 1 steal); Dane Anderson (2 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist); Owen Sanstead (2 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist).
Leading the Battlers were Max Meckalson (12 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists), Braxton Camerson (10 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals. 2 blocks), Quinn Condiff (9 points), Jack Meckalson (6 points), Talyn Setterholm (6 rebounds) and Aiden Heggem (2 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals). Battle Lake shot 30% (13-43) from the floor and hit 31% (7-23) of their 3’s. WCA held a 32-26 edge on the boards.
"Credit to WCA tonight, they play a tough style of defense and we did not handle it well as they turned us over 37 times on the night which led to 58 points for them,” commented Battle Lake Head Coach Brady Cameron. “It is hard to simulate in practice exactly how they play defense with how well they fly around and are in your face all night. We knew going in that it was going to be tough when we were already down 3 projected starters, but then we lost our leading scorer and our PG from last year in Jack Mekalson 9 minutes into the game with an injury. As the game went on I thought our younger guys got a little more comfortable with the speed of the varsity game. We are using these 1st few games as a learning experience for these younger guys and we hope to have some guys healthy in the next few weeks."
The Knights will travel to Morris Area-Chokio-Alberta next Friday. Battle Lake travels to Breckenridge on Tuesday.
