Knights survive late game surge by Raiders

North Platte, Neb. – A late layup by Trevon Dennis helps hold off the late game surge by the Raiders of Central Community College on Thursday night, 72-68.

Nico Felici led the Knights with 16 points, three assists and six rebounds, while fellow guard Jevarrick Butler accounted for 15 points on 4-of-9 shooting from the floor.

Central trailed by as many as sixteen points in the second half, before slowly chipping into the deficit over the final thirteen minutes. The Raiders managed to cut the deficit to five, before Felici extended the lead back to eight with 7:44 remaining. North Platte pushed their lead back to double-figures twice over the next 3:16, but each time was met with a response by the Raiders.

Central launched a 12-2 run to narrow the deficit to three inside the final two minutes, before a quick timeout temporarily paused game action. Out of the break, Felici drove the lane and kicked the ball to Dennis underneath for the layup to extend the lead back to five, 71-66.

The lead was pushed to six after Butler earned a trip to the free throw line and connected on one of his two free throw attempts. Raiders cut the lead down to four, before an error on the inbound gave Central one final chance to force overtime. Central guard Caleb Muia stepped out for the three-point attempt, but the clock expired before the shot as the Knights held on to secure the wire-to-wire win.         

North Platte jumped out to a 23-6 lead in the opening nine minutes. German Plotnikov led the charge, accounting for eight of the Knights opening ten points. The Raiders began to tighten up on defense as the margin was trimmed to eleven with 8:16 remaining in the first half.

Knights held on to the momentum down the stretch, once again pushing their lead to fifteen after a pair of free throws by Caleb Horne, 35-20. Central outscored the Knights 7-4 for the remainder of the half, but North Platte continued to hold on to the double-digit lead as the teams headed into the halftime break, 39-27.

As a team, the Knights connected on 50 percent (26-52) of their shots from the field, including 4-of-14 from the perimeter (.286).

North Platte (9-11) will continue with NCCAC action on Saturday, Feb. 12 against the Storm of Southeast Community College. Tip is set for 4 p.m. at the McDonald-Belton Gymnasium.