North Platte —The North Platte Community College Knights basketball team defeated the Laramie County Community College Golden Eagles in an important National Junior College Athletic Association Region IX South Sub-Region contest 75-73 Wednesday night at the McDonald-Belton Gymnasium.
Before the game was played the Golden Eagles were in second place in the South Sub-Region with an 8-4 record. The Knights were 7-5 and in third place.
The Knights started out with an early lead of 10-2. The Golden Eagles battled back to tie the score at 23 apiece. The Knights scored back to back three-pointers by Michael Mitchell and Jordan Mills to give them a 29-23 lead, but Laramie County tied the game back up at 33 and took the lead on a free throw by Josh McNair, 34-33. The Knights regained the lead and had a 37-35 lead at intermission.
The second half began with a three-pointer by Mills and a field goal by Mitchell to give the Knights their biggest lead of the second half 42-35. The Knights held the lead throughout most of the second half. With the score at 61-55, the Golden Eagles went on an 11-2 run to take the lead 66-63. Gavin Peppers had back to back three-pointers in the run to tie and put the Golden Eagles ahead. Diontae Champion made an old fashioned three-point play to give the Knights a 73-71 lead. McNair had a field goal to tie the game at 73. Leito Holloway drove the lane and made a layup with five seconds to go. The Golden Eagles tried for a last second shot but fell short.
The win for the Knights makes them 16-9 on the season and 8-5 in the sub-region. Holloway led four Knights that scored in double figures with 20 points.
Jordan Mills ended with 16 points. Mitchell finished with 11 and Tyree Peter ended with 10 points. Peter also grabbed 14 rebounds for his 11th double-double.
The Golden Eagles fall to 18-9 and 8-5 in the sub-region and a tie with the Knights for second place. They had four players also to score in double figures led by Peppers and McNair with 17 points each. Jerry Luckett finished with 16 points and Iziah Sherman-Newsome finished with 14 points.
The Knights are next in action on Friday night when they face Southeast Community College.
The game will be live-streamed on www.coachesaid.com. Tip-off will follow the women’s game approximately at 7:30 pm CST.