North Platte – The North Platte Community College Knights basketball team finished off their regular season in front of a large crowd, defeating the McCook Community College Indians, 80-76 on Tuesday night at the McDonald-Belton Gymnasium on “Sophomore Night.”
The game was the final appearance in front of home fans for sophomores Diontae Champion, Jordan Mills, Victor Lewis, David Niklasson, and Mike Amius.
The game was close through most of the first half. There were five lead changes in the first half. With the Knights leading 21-20, they went on a 14-5 run to take their biggest lead of the first half at 35-25. The Knights held a 39-32 halftime lead.
The Knights led the entire second half. The Indians did pull within one at 65-64, but the Knights built up their lead after a 7-2 run to take a 72-66 lead. The Indians went on their own run of 7-4 to pull within three at 76-73. After a basket by Lewis and two free throws by Samuel Kearns, the game was a three possession game at 80-73. The Indians Torrey Mayo hit a three-pointer for the final points of the game.
The Knights are 22-7 for the season and 9-7 in Region IX South Sub-Region play. They were a perfect 6-0 in the Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference.
The Knights were led in scoring by Lewis and Godfrey Rolle with 16 points each. Amius added 12 points and Nate Duda finished with 10 points. Amius had eight rebounds for the team lead. Amius also had five blocked shots on the evening.
The Indians, who are 15-15 on the season, finish 4-12 in South Sub-Region play and 3-3 in the NCCAC. Draylan Perkins led all scorers with 21 points. Three other Indians finished in double figures. Lewis Diankulu had 13 points, D’Von Moore added 11 points and Brody Sharkey chipped in 10 points. Diankulu finished with five rebounds to lead the Indians.
The Knights will now travel to La Junta, Colo., to play Otero Junior College in the opening round of the Region IX tournament on Saturday, March 4. The Knights, Otero, and Trinidad all finished with identical records in the final South Sub-Region standings but gained the fourth seed through tiebreakers. The Knights split with both Otero and Trinidad. Otero swept Trinidad, which gave Otero the fourth seed and Trinidad finished as the sixth seed.
Laramie County is the number one seed in the South Sub-Region and will play McCook in the first round.
The Knights game will be broadcast on ESPN 1410 radio and on the Internet at www.northplattepost.com. A link to the livestream will be available at www.npccknights.com.
Tip-off time for the Otero- Knights has yet to be determined.