The North Platte Community College Knights basketball team fell to the Northwest Kansas Technical College Mavericks 85-66 Thursday night at the McDonald-Belton Gymnasium.

In the first half, the Mavericks and Knights battled back and forth with eight lead changes and three ties.  With the Knights leading 24-23 the Mavericks went on an 11-0 run in the final three minutes of the half to take a halftime lead of 34-24.

In the second half the Mavericks opened up the game and led by as many as 21 points 70-49.  The Knights did cut the lead down to 13 with two minutes to go 79-66.  The Mavericks scored the final six points for the final score.

After shooting a dismal 36 percent from the field in the first half, the Knights shot 53.1 percent in the second half to finish at 45.6 percent for the game.

The Mavericks shot 52 percent from the floor for the game and 63 percent in the second half.

The Knights are now 8-6 on the season.  Four Knights were in double figures in the game.  Diontae Champion led the Knights with 15 points.  Tim Wagner and Jordan Mills each ended with 13 points and Victor Lewis added 11.  David Ramon led the Knights with five rebounds.

The Mavericks are 11-6 and had four players in double figures.  Darius Freeman led all scorers with 21 points.  He made six of nine from behind the three point arc.  Broderick Robinson added 18 points, Mark Dean had 16 points.  The Mavericks leading scorer on the season, Montrell Williams, finished with 12 points.  James Jackson had 10 rebounds to lead the Mavericks.

The Knights will be back on the court when they face Laramie County Community College in a Region IX South Sub-Region contest in Cheyenne, Wyo. on Friday, January 8, game time is 8:00 pm CST.