The Knoxville Boys Basketball Squad fell down early, came back only fall to Ballard in the first round of the class 3A sub state on Monday 79-60 as heard on KNIA. The Panthers had trouble holding off Ballard’s Connor Drew, who’s 33 points was key to the Bombers success. However Knoxville was able to chip away at a 16 point Ballard lead in the third quarter to get within five in the fourth quarter, but could get no closer. One sequence in the fourth quarter was a hussle play by the entire Panther team that seemed to save the ball three times from going out of bounds. Coach Jeff Larson told KNIA/KRLS Sports that optimized his players not in this game, but all season. Kieren Nichols scored 23 points to lead the Panthers who finish at 8-14 on the season.