North Platte – After a slow start, the North Platte Community College Knights basketball team defeated the Southeast Community College Storm 88-80 at the McDonald-Belton Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon.
The Storm began the game jumping out to a 13-5 lead over the Knights. With the score at 17-9, in favor of the Storm, the Knights battled back going on a 13-0 run to take a 22-17 lead, capped off by eight straight points by Godfrey Rolle on two three-pointers and another field goal.
The Knights stretched out their lead to 11, 34-23 with just over four minutes to go in the half. The Storm came back with a 14-3 run of their own to tie the score at 37-37 at halftime.
In the beginning of the second half, the game remained tight at the two teams were tied at 51 points each.
The Knights started to open the game up by going on a 24-6 run for their biggest lead of 18 at 75-57.
The Storm began to chip away at the Knights lead and brought the score within five points at 81-76. The Storm had to resort to sending the Knights to the free throw line. The Knights made five free throws down the stretch to secure the win.
The Knights are now 11-3 on the season and 1-0 in Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference play. They were led in scoring by Rolle, who finished with 24 points. Mike Amius was next in scoring with 16 points. Besides Rolle and Amius, two other Knights finished in double figures: Samuel Kearns finished with 15 points and David Niklasson finished with 10 points. Amius had seven rebounds and Rolle had six rebounds to lead the Knights.
The Storm are now 8-9 on the season and 0-2 in NCCAC play. Three Storm players finished in double figures including Bobby Parker, who led all scorers with 26 points. Taylor Britt had 15 points and Daniel Quesenberry added 10 points. Parker added seven rebounds to lead the Storm.
The Knights will be in action again on January 20, when they travel to La Junta, Colo., to play the defending Region IX South Sub-Region champion Otero Junior College. Tip-off is set for 8 pm CST.