The boys basketball season tips off for many of our area squads tonight. Knoxville travels north on Highway 14 to Monroe for a game against PCM. The Panthers are coming off a 12-10 season last year, and return Kieren Nichols, who is class 3A’s highest returning scorer from last season. That said, the Panthers will also look for a supporting cast for Nichols with Keegan Cox, Spencer Hixson, and Luke Keitges to join in on the scoring. Panthers Coach Jeff Larson tells KRLS Sports PCM always provides a nice test to start off the season.

Larson:
“Fred does a great job over there, and they always have a great basketball team. They always give us a challenge, and we’re looking forward to it.”

For PCM, longtime Coach Fred Lorensen tells KRLS Sports four seniors will be key to the team’s success.

Lorensen:
“The four that are returning, we think those four can be really good. Gatlin [Boell] is a great athlete. The biggest thing for him is if he can improve for us offensively. If he gets the ball down by the basket, he’s going to be a good finisher. He can also shoot from the arc really well. Grant Landgrebe is a very good 3-point shooter and we’re trying to convince him he can go outside and play. He’s a big, strong kid and can do that. Andrew Mitchell– we’re expecting huge things from him. He’s just a great athlete. He’s going to be a great shooter. He’s really smart. He’s a great defender. He can do just about anything. He’s going to be a huge, huge force for us. And Sage Burns, he’s kind of a jack-of-all-trades. He can do lots of things. A really smart kid, he can play a lot of positions for us. We expect those four seniors to give us great play and great leadership this year.”

PCM has dominated the series since 2001 as the Mustangs lead 12-2 and have won the last two meetings including last season’s 48-45 win. You can hear the call on 95.3 KNIA with Derek Cardwell and Tyler Vaske beginning with the pregame at 7:15 and the tip off at 7:30.