North Platte – The North Platte Community College Knights basketball team defeated the Central Community College Raiders 86-52 on Friday night at the McDonald-Belton Gymnasium on Scout Night.

The game was the 1000th game of Knights Head Coach Kevin O’Connor. It was also O’Connor’s 650 win as head coach for the Knights.

The Raiders jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but the Knights went on a 31-5 run to take a 31-9 lead. The Knights led by as many as 27 points before leading at halftime 41-16.

The Knights began the second half by going on a 10-0 run to increase their lead to 51-16. The Knights built on their lead and led the Raiders by 44 points at 86-42. The Raiders scored the last 10 points to close the gap at the end.

The Raiders, coming into the game, shot over 41 percent of their shots from behind the three-point line. Tonight, of the 57 shots that they shot, 27 were from three-point range. They were shooting 39.6 percent from three-point range on the season. In the game tonight, the Raiders made seven of the 27 shots for 25.9 percent.

The Knights improve to 13-5 on the season and 3-0 in the Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference. Sophomore Diontae Champion led all scorers with 22 points. Fellow Knight Godfrey Rolle was next with 20 points. Samuel Kearns was the only other Knight in double figures with 12 points. Nate Duda led the Knights with nine rebounds and Kearns had six assists.

The Raiders, drop to 12-9 on the season, and 1-2 in the NCCAC. Logan Fleming led the Raiders with 19 points. Luke Cadzow was the only other Raider in double figures with 10 points. Cadzow also had six rebounds to lead the Raiders.

The Knights are next in action when they travel to Sterling, Colo., to face Northeastern Junior College on Tuesday, January 31.

ESPN 1410 will be broadcasting the game. It will also be on the Internet at www.northplattepost.com.

Tip-off is set for 8:30 CST.