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Eagles Hold On For Victory at Highland

Eagles Hold On For Victory at Highland

By David Sharp

Knox County built a 10 point lead at three time defending Clarence Cannon Conference boy’s champion Highland and held off a Cougar charge in the final three minutes of the December 22, 2008 contest for a 55-50 victory.

Dennis Dent led all scorers with a 28 point, 12 rebound effort. Paul Power fired in 20 Cougar points. The Eagles had balanced team scoring. Lucas Hudson scored nine KCHS points to go along with nine assists. Mitchel Penn scored nine Eagle points.

Brett Wilkerson and Keenan Gillaspy added eight Knox County points each. The Eagles did a good job on the boards, pulling down 35 rebounds as a team.

The Eagles (2-2) maintained their eight to ten point lead most of the night. Knox County used a three quarter court trapping defense to build a 16 point advantage with three minutes to play in the game.

Highland upped the ante with a full court press. The three time defending Class 3 district champion Cougars pressured Knox County into late game turnovers. Highland trimmed the KCHS lead to three points with 35 seconds to play in the contest.

Keenan Gillaspy and Dennis Dent sank clutch free throws to preserve the 55-50 win. “It was good to beat a team that has whacked us pretty well the last two years,” said Knox County coach Jesse Crawford.

“We did a good job on the boards all night,” said Coach Crawford. “We were able to hold on and get a quality win against a very solid team.”

Knox County travels to Scotland County for a non-conference varsity doubleheader on January 2, 2009. The Eagles have a key conference twin bill at Clark County on Saturday, January 3, 2009 weather permitting.

The Eagle varsity boys and girls are slated to play in the South Shelby Tournament January 5-10.