North Platte – The North Platte Community College Knights basketball team will travel to Trinidad, Colo., for the first round of the Region IX Tournament on Saturday, March 3 to play the Trinidad State Junior College Trojans.
The Knights and the Trojans split the season series. The Knights defeated the Trojans in North Platte on Dec 2, 72-67. The Trojans returned the favor by beating the Knights 88-70 in Trinidad. The Knights hold a 15-13 advantage over the Trojans in the all-time series.
The Trojans are the third seed in the tournament with a 9-7 record in Region IX South Sub-Region. Overall the Trojans record is 19-9. The Trojans have three players averaging in double figures led by Tykeem Anderson at 12.6 points per game. Next in scoring is Trevell Cunningham at 12.5 ppg. The third Trojan to average in double figures is Job Alexander at 10.9 ppg. In the two games against the Knights, Anderson averaged 14 ppg,, Cunningham scored 15.5 ppg, and Alexander scored 12.5 ppg, Leading in rebounding for the Trojans is Jesus Martinez at 5.1 rebounds per game.
The Knights are the sixth seed in the tournament with an 8-8 record in the South Sub-Region. They are 15-12 overall. Godfrey Rolle leads the Knights in scoring with 19.4 ppg. Rolle is the number 23 leading scorer on the career all-time scoring list with 919 career points. He is seven points away from Ken Cera and 11 points from Diontae Champion. Trajan Harris is second on the Knights in scoring with a 10.3 ppg average. The leading rebounder for the Knights is Jakub Karwowski at 6.3 rpg.
The winner of the game will advance to the quarterfinals of the Region IX Tournament, which will be held at the location of the highest seed remaining after the first round games. Otero Junior College is the number one seed. They will play number eight Northeastern Junior College. Western Nebraska Community College is the second seed and they will play McCook Community College. The fourth seed is Lamar Community College and they will host five seed Laramie County Community College.
Tip-off is set for 7 pm CST.
The game will be broadcast on the radio on ESPN 1410 and on the Internet at www.northplattepost.com. It will also be live-streamed and the link will be found at www.npccknights.com.