North Platte – The No. 12 North Platte Community College men’s basketball team (11-0, 3-0 South Sub-Region) extended their winning streak on Saturday night as they ran past the Lamar Community College Runnin’ Lopes (3-12, 0-2 South Sub-Region) by a final score of 86-56.

The Knights started the game sluggish as they got off to a 5-0 lead before allowing the Runnin’ Lopes to answer back and take an early lead. The Knights would open up a 15 point lead at halftimes intermission behind the hot shooting of Marco Pascolo who went 4-4 from behind the 3-point line in the first half to finish the half with 14 points. Devante Anderson was able to keep Lamar in the game by scoring 13 first half points. The Knights shot 45 percent from the field in the half while limiting the Runnin’ Lopes to 35 percent shooting.

The second half picked up where the first left off as the Knights were able to extend their lead behind unselfish play and solid defense. The Knights continued to shoot the ball well as they shot 60 percent in the second half while limiting Lamar to only 30 percent to out-score the Runnin’ Lopes 44-29 in the second half alone.

Xavier Hall came off the bench and gave the Knights a boost offensive as he finished with a career-high 13 points and first game in double figures as a Knight.

“I feel like we came out sluggish to start,” said Hall. “But once we picked up our defensive intensity we started to click and played the way we wanted to play.”

Pascolo finished with a game-high 17 points while Knights leading scorer Ethan Montalvo was also in double-figures with 14. Jacob Maslo recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

“I thought we played well and took care of business tonight,” said assistant coach Nathan Wieseler. “It sets up a big game for us on Wednesday and as we close out the first semester at home against Northeastern Junior College. It is going to be a great basketball game.”

The Knights welcome #13 Northeastern Junior College (12-1, 1-1 South Sub-Region) to McDonald-Belton Gymnasium on Wednesday Dec. 11 in their last game of 2013. The game is set to tip at 7:30 following the women’s game and will be broadcast live on ESPN Radio 1410 and online. The Knights return to action in 2014 on Jan. 10 as they travel to Scottsbluff to take on Western Nebraska Community College (7-6, 0-1 South Sub-Region) at 8:30 p.m. CST.