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Knights Advance to Holiday Tournament Championship Game

By Craig Olson, 12/28/18, 2:15PM CST

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The West Central Area Knights boys basketball team used a balanced attack to post an 80-42 win over the Underwood Rockets in the first round of the Pelican Rapids Holiday tournament on Friday. 

 

Seven Knight players scored over eight points in the win led by Jacob Bright with 16, Tate Christenson with 13, Jack VanKempen 12, Teigen Moritz 11, Gage Staples 8, Blake Koloski 8, and Grant Beuckens 8.  Brady Reeve and Ryder Staples each added 2 points.  

Staples grabbed 8 rebounds with VanKempen and Gavin Paulson grabbing 4 each.  Beuckens led the team with 4 assists.  Steal leaders were Koloski with 4, VanKempen 4, and Beuckens 3. 

Overall the Knights made 26-49 shots from the field for 53% including 8-16 on threes.  The Knights also shot 20-25 from the free throw line for 80%.    

Knight Coach Kraig Hunter said, "It was good to see the guys improving on some of the things we've been stressing.  We've been stressing running the floor hard all the time and attacking the basket more and getting to the free throw line.  We ran the floor well tonight and it was good to see us attack the basket and get to the line 25 times." 

Hunter added, "I also thought we were communicating and active on defense." 

The Knights forced 23 Rocket turnovers.  The Rockets shot 15-39 for 38% and made 4-17 threes.  They went 8-14 from the line.  The Rockets had 28 rebounds to 27 for the Knights.

"We really struggled to get things moving on the offensive side tonight against a strong WCA defense," commented Underwood Head Coach Evan Meece.  "They forced us into far too many turnovers, which resulted in a lot of points.  Overall, our effort was strong and we playled hard, but just didn't have enough in us against a solid team."

Scoring for the Rockets were Caanan Kugler with 12 points, Nick Sieple 10, Krosby Aasness 9, Winston Heifort 6, Braden Thorson 3, and Logan Fingaard2.