The Knoxville Boys basketball Squad will go into the Christmas break perfect while the girls fell to Centerville Thursday night as heard on 95.3 KNIA. The boys for the first time this season were challenged through most of the game. The Big Reds jumped out to an 11-4 lead early on, and after a time out, the Panthers went on a 27-12 to go up by ten at halftime. Centerville again closed the gap to six after the 2nd half started, but Knoxville quickly got the game back into double figures and kept the Big Reds at arm’s length for the remainder of the game, pulling away in the 4th quarter to win 62-42. Coach Joel Keady told KNIA/KRLS Sports the start was not desirable, but after his team started running the offense, things turned around.
Keady: “We haven’t really been challenged like that and for some reason we weren’t executing the stuff we went over in practice but it was good to see that guys bound back front that.”
The Norris Brothers again led the way in scoring for the Panthers with Landen scoring 21 and Lincoln dropping in 18. The girls were down early and never recovered in a 59-29 loss. Centerville built the lead to nearly 30 by the 3rd quarter and never let Knoxville closer than 25 the rest of the way. Hannah Dunkin scored 14 points to lead Knoxville. The boys run their record to 4-0 and the same goes for the South Central Conference, while the girls are now 2-4 and 2-2 in the conference. Both teams are off until January 3rd when Pella comes in to renew the Red Rock Rivalry.
Photo from Ryan Northcote