North Platte, Ne – Knights basketball is finally back after almost a month break for the holidays.
The Women played their first game back on Friday the 11th (they were scheduled to play a game against York earlier in the week before it was cancelled) and the Men had their second game back after the break as both teams took on Central Community College.
The Women would have their first look at one of the teams they would need to go through to win the region in the matchup. Things started out all Raiders as they jumped on the Knights with an 8-0 run to open the game. The Knights were getting good looks at the rim but shots just would not fall for the Knights. Central would have a 14-2 lead after one quarter of play.
The second looked much like the first as Central would jump out of the gate again, starting the quarter with an 8-2 that would prompt a time out from Head Coach Jeff Thurman. Whatever Coach Thurman said to the team worked as the Women then went on a 10-3 run out of the time out. North Platte would outscore Central 21-15 in the quarter to go into halftime down just six; 29-23. Emily Joesph came alive in the 2nd scoring 12 points while playing good defense.
With all the momentum the Knights would come out hot in the second half and with 7:50 left in the third they would take their first lead of the game. Madisyn Francis got involved in the scoring as she put in 8pts to lead the Knights in the frame. Again the Knights would outscore Central Community College 21-12 and would take a three point lead into the fourth; 44-41.
That would set up a great fourth quarter of basketball. North Platte would continue its momentum and start the quarter off on a 12-8 run to go up by as much as seven at one point. Central would not go away behind the play of Monica Brooks, the 6’0″ forward from Oklahoma the Raiders were able to come back and retake the lead. The Raiders would get a few key stops down the stretch and edge out the Knights 68-62.
Leading the way for the Knights was Emily Joesph who had 23 in the contest along with 3 rebounds. Madisyn Francis also scored in double digits with 15 points.
The Women next play on the 14th as they travel to Norfolk to take on Northeast.
After the Women’s game was through the Men took to the court looking to keep rolling after playing the night before in Hastings.
The Men looked slow to start the game letting Central jump out to a 7-0 lead which got a quick time out from head coach Kevin Oconnor. He lit the fire under the men as they came out of the time out and rattled off 11 points to take the lead 11-9.
From there the teams spent the next few minutes trading the lead with neither team able to really get a leg up on the other one. Finally the Knights were able to break through when Ilya Tyrtyshnik the forward from the Ukraine found his shot and knocked down two big three point shots. From there the Knights were able to get some distance and pull away from the Raiders taking a 41-24 lead into half time.
The second half was all North Platte as they came out and showed why they are perfect this year at home and have only one loss on the season. Tyrtyshnik continued his hot shooting (he would end the game with 22 points) and help keep the game out of reach. Center Nelo Nducuia from Mozambique would corral 11 rebounds before fouling out and the Knights would improve to 11-1 on the season, getting the win 74-59.
The Men play next on Friday as they travel to southern colorado to play Otero and Trinidad.