Sterling, CO – The No. 3 North Platte Community College men’s basketball team’s (21-2, 9-2 South Sub-Region, 4-0 NCCAC) fell Tuesday night to the No. 15 Northeastern Junior College Plainsmen (22-2, 9-2 South Sub-Region) by a score of 66-70 despite 26 points from Ethan Montalvo as he passed the 1,000th career point total.

The Knights started the game struggling to score as it would be over six minutes before the Knights would get on the board. A strong defensive effort held the Plainsmen to only eight points during the stretch to keep the Knights in the game. Two free throws from Montalvo finally broke the Knights scoring drought.

Slowly through the first half the Knights would chip away and find their offensive rhythm while holding the Plainsmen at bay. The Knights would even the game at 32 apiece on two free throws from Cameron Williams before a steal and put-back by Kenyon Gist would give the Knights a 34-32 lead at break. Montalvo led the Knights with 14 points while Dual Mayot had 13 for the Plainsmen.

In the second half the game would swing back and forth as both teams were able to keep the other team on its heels. Late in the game, Northeastern was able to knock down two free throws and get a stop to stretch their lead to four that the Knights could not overcome in the final minute.

The Knights were led by Montalvo’s 26 points that included 10 of 10 from the free throw line. Tim Simmons finished with 14 points, 12 in the second half. Cameron Williams was the only other Knight in double-figures with 10.

With his 26 points, Ethan Montalvo became the 13th Knight ever to score 1,000 career points. He currently sits at 1,005 points which is 13th on the Knights All-Time scoring list after passing Tod McKeone and All-American Eugene Bain. In 12th place is Kevin Bromley with 1,040 career points. All-American Joseph Ragland is the Knights All-Time leading scorer with 1,286 career points.

Mayot led the Plainsmen with 19 points and Bronson Moton was the only other in double-figures with 13. The Plainsmen had seven players score at least five points while the Knights only had four.

“Give Northeastern a ton of credit, they played a heck of a ballgame,” said assistant coach Nathan Wieseler. “We have to regroup and put this behind us during the next two days of practice before we travel to Lamar.”

The Knights then travel to Lamar, Colo. to face the Lamar Community College Runnin’ Lopes (7-16, 3-6 South Sub-Region) on Friday Feb. 7 at 8:30 p.m. CST. The Knights defeated the Runnin’ Lopes at home on Dec. 7 by a score of 86-56 behind 17 points from Marco Pascolo and a double-double from Jake Maslo on 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Next week the Knights travel to McCook Community College (16-7, 6-4 South Sub-Region, 2-2 NCCAC) on Tuesday, February 11 to face the Indians at 7:30 p.m. The Knights then return home for a Friday-Saturday double-header as they host the Eastern Wyoming Lancers (9-12, 1-8 South Sub-Region) on Friday, February 14 at 7:30 p.m. and the Western Nebraska Community College Cougars (14-9, 5-4 South Sub-Region) on Saturday, February 15 at 3 p.m.