The North Platte Community College Knights opened the home portion of their schedule with an 81-66 win over Fort Carson Army Base on Saturday afternoon at the McDonald-Belton Gymnasium.

The game was tied at eight when the Knights went on a 7-0 run with baskets by Diontae Champion, Tim Wagner and a 3-pointer by Victor Lewis to make the score 15-8.  The Knights extended their lead to 37-27 with just under three minutes to play for their largest lead of the half.  Champion scored 17 of his game high 29 points in the first half to give the Knights a 40-34 lead at halftime.

In the second half, the Knights built on their lead and led throughout the second half with their biggest lead at 77-60.

Knights’ assistant coach Ryan Glenney said, “It feels good to win our home opener.  We still have a lot of work to do going forward.”

In addition to Champion’s 29 points, the Knights had three others in double figures.  Tim Wagner finished the game with 15 points.  Victor Lewis contributed 11 and Tyree Peter added 10 points.  Peter also pulled down 12 rebounds for his third double-double of the season. Champion also recorded his first career double-double with 10 rebounds.

The Knights out-rebounded Fort Carson 47-43, including 12 offensive rebounds.

Fort Carson was led in scoring by Damien Terry and Demetrius Nixon with 16 points.  Lazabian Jackson added 15 points and Roderick Mitchell had 12 points.  Mitchell had 10 rebounds.

The Knights improve to 3-1 on the season and 1-0 at home.  They will continue their home stand next Saturday when they face Hastings College Junior Varsity at 3 pm.