The Knoxville Boys Basketball Squad has finished the first part of the season with a 5-2 record and looking to gain back some momentum after finishing the pre-Christmas portion of the season with a loss to Pella. The Panthers have more class 3A and Little Hawkeye Conference squads on their schedule and Coach Troy Pearson, while looking at a loss in the most recent game, has confidence his team is capable of playing against similar size schools.

Pearson: “I learned that when our kids compete, we can play with anyone in the state, when we’re in the right frame of mind we can play with anybody.”

In the Pella game, Knoxville got down by 20 points and fought back to cut the lead to ten late but ran out of time to make a significant dent in Pella’s lead. The Panthers will return to action on January 2nd at Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont for what likely could be 1st place in the South Central Conference.