UPDATED: This story was updated at 11:07 p.m.
HOWARD – East Knox’s Shane Knepp is known for his offense.
The Bulldog senior is the third leading scorer in the Knox-Morrow Athletic Conference, pouring in nearly 18 points a game.
But, Friday night, it was his defense that carried the Bulldogs to a 40-33 victory over Northmor in boys basketball action at Howard.
Knepp held the Golden Knights’ leading scorer, Grant Bentley, to just two points on the night and turned the tide with a strong defensive play at the end of the first half. Trailing by six with the clock winding down, Knepp stole a pass from the Knights and converted an old-fashioned three-point play to pull the Bulldogs (10-3 overall, 8-1 KMAC) within three heading into the locker room.
“That was huge. We basically had given the ball away and they had two guys open long. With two hands, he caught their pass, took it to the basket and finished the three-point play,” said East Knox coach Ryan Powell. “That’s a five-point swing and probably the play of the night.”
The Bulldogs had struggled offensively in the first half, making just 3-of-18 shots before Knepp’s play with one second left.
But, fortunately, their calling card is defense. EK held Northmor to just 16 points in the first half, keeping them within range, even though it didn’t look good at times. A 3-pointer from Dillon Moreland (nine points) at the 3-minute mark was the final points of the half for either team before Knepp’s last-second basket.
“I thought we had perfect execution (defensively) in the first half,” said Northmor coach Blade Tacket. “But, that (Knepp’s play) was a huge momentum killer.”
EK tightened the defensive pressure even more in the third quarter, allowing Northmor only three points on 3-of-4 shooting from the free-throw line. The Knights (7-7, 4-5) missed all six of their shots from the field in the quarter.
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs figured out some things offensively, hitting on 6-of-10 shots and racing to a 28-19 lead.
“They (Northmor) did a good job taking Shane away (in the first half). They had 10 eyes on him and I thought the rest of our guys were being a little bit passive and not stepping up and making enough plays,” Powell said. “But, in the second half, we had guys like Sam Whitney, Dillon (Moreland) and Ethan (Rine) all have big plays in that third quarter that kind of spurred us on.”
“Defensively, we were pretty good in the first half, but the second half was a lot better,” Knepp said. “Offensively, one of our keys is to move more, pass the ball around, and get guys moving a lot more. We did that in the second half.”
The lead got to as many as 10 points in the fourth quarter before the Knights turned up the pressure and attempted to chip away. A quick bucket each from Graesin Cass and Maxton Lower pulled the Knights within six, but the Bulldogs hit on 5-of-7 free throws in the final 1:14 to hang on for the victory.
“The guys worked the trap game well. We played hard and got them to make some mistakes,” Tacket said.
Knepp finished as the leading scorer with 12 points. He also had two steals and an assist. Moreland added nine points, while Peyton Lester had eight. Ethan Rine added six points and eight rebounds, while Sam Whitney had five points and nine rebounds.
Lower led the Knights with seven points, 10 rebounds and two assists. Cass and Logan Mariotti both had six points and Caleb Schnuerer had five.
The Bulldogs travel to Fredericktown on Tuesday, while the Knights play host to Mount Gilead the same night.
Northmor held off a furious fourth-quarter rally by the Bulldogs to win the junior varsity game, 45-37. The Knights led by as many as 16 points, but watched as EK whittled it down to five before falling.
Paul Cramer scored 11 points to lead the Knights, while Jaxson Wenger added nine.
East Knox was led by Mitchell Williams, who scored 12 points, and Jesse Wolford, who added eight.
In recent action on January 7, East Knox faced off against Cardington-Lincoln and Northmor took on Danville on January 7 at Northmor High School. For more, click here.
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