The North Platte Community College Knights Basketball team defeated the Laramie County Community College Golden Eagles 87-84 in a key Region IX game on Special Olympics night at McDonald-Belton Gymnasium Wednesday night.
The Knights improved to 13-4 and 6-1 in Region IX South sub-region play to remain in a tie with Northeastern Junior College for the lead in the South sub-region.
The Golden Eagles dropped to 14-5 overall and 5-2 in the South Sub-region.
The standings in the sub-region are crucial because the top four seeds in both the North and South sub-regions will host the first round of the Region IX tournament. The winners of those games will advance to the top remaining seed in the North for the remainder of the Region IX tournament.
The Knights jumped out to an 11-0 and stretched the lead out 31-16 with 7:49 in the first half on a three pointer by freshman Matt Thomas.
Mullen native Riley Rice dished out 3 of his 6 assists in the first half.
The Golden Eagles outscored the Knights down the stretch in the first half 19-13 to cut the Knights lead to 44-35 at halftime.
In the second half. The Golden Eagles went on a 13-4 run to tie the score at 48 a piece with 16:49 left in the game.
Laramie took their first lead of the game 56-54 with just under 14 minutes to play.
During the rest of the game there were six lead changes and five ties. The final lead change was with 1:15 to play when Cameron Williams made a layup to put the Knights ahead 81-79.
The Golden Eagles cut the Knights lead to two, 86-84 on a three pointer by Spencer Svejcar.
Riley Rice was fouled on the inbound by Darien Fernandez and sent to the free throw line. Rice made one of two free throws to put the Knights ahead by three to clinch the win
“It was a good team win, we played unselfishly and passed the ball well”, Knights assistant coach Ryan Glenney said after the game. The Knights had 17 assists led by Rice’s 6 assists.
The Knights were led in scoring by Cameron Williams with 35 points to lead all scorers. Marco Pascolo scored 19 on some clutch three pointers and free throws. Shyquinn Dix was the other Knight to score in double figures with 16 points.
The Golden Eagles were led in scoring by Kamari Robinson with 26 points. Three other Golden Eagles hit the double digit mark: Darien Fernandez scored 21, Spencer Svejcar scored 19, and Alexis Dargenton scored 12.
The Knights go on the road this weekend to face Central Community College in Columbus on Friday. They then travel to Beatrice to play Southeast Community College on Saturday. Both games are Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference games.
Tip- off for the Central game is 7:30 p.m. on Friday and 4:00 p.m. on Saturday for the Southeast game.