MANSFIELD — Mansfield Christian’s dynamic duo was too much for upstart East Knox.
Senior guards Jared McPeek and Kyle Kurtz combined for 44 points and the Flames held off a spirited comeback bid by the Bulldogs in a 65-51 win Tuesday at The Furnace.
The lightning-quick McPeek scored nine of his game-high 23 points in the fourth quarter as MCS (8-4) pulled away in the final thee minutes. Kurtz added five fourth-quarter points and had 21 on the night.
“They have a couple of very good senior guards and they gave us problems all night,” East Knox coach Ryan Powell said. “We kind of dug ourselves a hole early and against a team with two good and experience guards like that, it’s hard to come back.”
Mansfield Christian raced out to a 9-0 lead in the first three minutes and built a 22-11 lead after the first quarter. The Bulldogs (5-6) trailed 38-21 at the half.
“We were able to penetrate and get some easy shots and that is what allowed us to get out to that early lead,” Mansfield Christian coach John Kurtz said. “To their credit, they came out in the second half and made some shots and got back into it.”
East Knox opened the third quarter with an 8-0 run of its own and cut Mansfield Christian’s advantage to 38-29 on a Kadden Lester layup with 4:33 left in the period. The Flames responded with a 9-0 run capped by Ethan DeLaney’s triple off a McPeek assist to make it 47-29.
“We talked about getting stops on defense and taking away their strengths,” Powell said. “We held them to nine points in the third quarter and that is what we expect. We gave up 38 points in the first half and that is unacceptable.”
East Knox made one final charge in the fourth quarter, cutting Mansfield Christian’s lead to 53-47 on a Lester 3-pointer with 3:21 remaining. The Flames outscored the Bulldogs 12-4 to win going away. MCS’s final run coincided with East Knox freshman Weston Melick’s departure. The 6-foot-1 guard scored a team-best 18 points before fouling out with 2:58 remaining and the Flames leading 55-47.
“He did a nice job,” Kurtz said of Melick. “I thought he looked a little nervous early, but he settled in and hit some big shots.”
Lester backed Melick with 15 points, including 11 in the fourth quarter. Caleb Gallwitz added eight and Kasson Krownapple had seven.
Jared Mount had six points for the Flames. Noah Cyphers added five, all in the first quarter.
