On Feb. 19 the Knights added an 8th win to their season, beating the Greensburg Salem Lions. The Knights have a current record of 8-13 overall at season’s end.

     Despite missing key players such as Tyler Bilinsky and Jayden Walker, the Knights prevailed, winning 67-21.. 

     The starting lineup for the Knights consisted of almost entirely all seniors: Nicholas Flemming, Josh Williams, Connor McCutcheon, and Tanner Krevokuch. The only exception was sophomore Adam Bilinksy. The Knights began their lead with senior Josh Williams banking a three-pointer in just a little over a minute into the game. The first substitutions were not made until 20 seconds of the quarter were left. Juniors Ty Stecko, Michael Flemming, and sophomore Kaleb Pryor entered the court. The team continued to pull their lead, ending the first quarter with a score of 15-6. The top scorers were Williams and A. Bilinsky.

     During the second quarter, the Knights played arguably the best, scoring a total of 21 points and creating turnovers on defense. Bilinsky started the quarter off with a bucket. Despite being knocked down by the opponent, Bilinsky aimed for the hoop and made it before hitting the ground. Following his bucket, Bilinsky scored an additional 3 points during the remainder of the quarter. Along with Bilinsky, five other Knights scored; Pryor for 5, M. Fleming for 3, Stecko for 3, Edwards for 3, and Williams for 2. At halftime, the Knights led with a score of 36-16 over the Lions.

After the first half of the game, the Knights were very optimistic about their win.

     “We felt pretty good [after the first half of the game],” said A. Bilinsky, “Everyone on the team was making their shots. When we played Greensburg before and won, that gave us a lot of confidence for the future games against them.”

     The Knights previously played Greensburg on Feb. 5 and beat them 69-20.

  The Knights started off the third quarter with the same five starters as the beginning of the game. Krevokuch started the Knights off on a good foot by scoring 6 points within the first half of the quarter. Norwin scored a total of 11 points by the end of the third quarter. Williams scored 3, Krevokuch for 6, and M. Flemming for 2 in the quarter. The Knights gained a 30 point lead with a score of 47-17.

Although they had a significant lead over their opponent, that didn’t stop the Knights’ scoring streak. In a little over two minutes into it, Pryor set up M. Flemming with a great assist, allowing him to score 2 points. In addition, Flemming followed his previous score up with a three-pointer nearly 30 seconds later. The Knights maintained their playing level by scoring 20 total points this quarter. Pryor scored 6, A. Bilinsky for 2, Krevokuch for 3, Weaver for 2, and M. Flemming for 7.   

     The top scorer of the game was Williams with a total of 13 points. A. Bilinsky, Pryor, and M. Flemming each scored 12.

As the regular season has come to a close, the Knights will face Butler Tornados, who are the 5th ranked WPIAL team in the 6A bracket on March 2. Although the boys’ basketball season is coming to an end, players such as junior Ty Stecko are optimistic about the future of the team.

     “[In the future] we hope to get a consistent run with wins like we did this past game,” said Stecko. “If we use the winning momentum from this game, we’ll definitely play the best we can in the playoffs!”