Cheyenne, Wyo – The North Platte Community College Knights basketball team defeated the Western Wyoming Community College Mustangs 90-87 on Friday and defeated the Central Wyoming College Rustlers 111-101 on Saturday at the Laramie County Community College Golden Eagle Classic.
On Friday, the Knights overcame a 23-16 Mustang lead by going on a 12-1 run to take a 28-24 lead with just over six and a half minutes in the first half. The Mustangs rallied to go on a 14-7 run to take a 38-35 lead.
The Knights held the Mustangs scoreless for the remainder of the half and scored nine points to take a 44-38 halftime lead.
In the second half, the Knights started off by outscoring the Mustangs 9-2 to take their biggest lead of the game 53-40.
The Mustangs continued to battle back and were down by two, 89-87 with 20 seconds left in the game. Free throws by Godfrey Rolle and Nate Duda sealed the win for the Knights.
Mike Amius led the Knights with a near double-double, scoring 20 points and nine rebounds. Samuel Kearns added 17 points and had five steals and five assists. Diontae Champion finished with 15 points and Rolle finished with 11 points.
Western Wyoming, now 4-3 on the season were led by David Thorton with 17 points. Tyrell Isaacs finished with 16, Callum Lawson added 15 points and Cole Huish chipped in 10. Lawson had a double-double by adding 10 rebounds.
On Saturday afternoon against Central Wyoming College the Knights used an 18-2 run during the first half to take a 47-38 halftime lead.
During the second half, the Knights led by as much as 15 at 81-66, on a three-pointer by David Niklasson.
The Knights led throughout the second half, with the Rustlers only able to come within four points. The Knights won the game 111-101.
Diontae Champion led the Knights, who had six players score in double figures, with 24 points. The other five Knights to reach the double digit mark were Godfrey Rolle with 22 points; Niklasson with 18 points, Jack Williams with 15 points, Samuel Kearns with 12 points and Mike Amius finished with 11 points. Williams also had 11 rebounds to complete the double-double.
For the Rustlers, Irshaad Hunte led them in scoring with 26 points, Chris Quayle added 21 points, Alihan Demir had 16 points, Devon Colley had 12 points and Marcus Nolan finished with 11 points. Hunte had a game high of 15 rebounds.
Knights Assistant Coach Chase Grabau said, “We have a lot of things we need to work on and fix, but our guys were able to figure out a way to get the job done. Both teams were able to execute offensively and appeared to come down to which team was able to get more stops. We need to learn to play together and as a team, especially on the defensive end.”
The Knights are now 4-0 on the season and have scored over the century mark three of the four games.
They are next in action on Sunday Nov 27 when they host York College JV at 5 pm.