BARBOURVILLE — Knox Central and Whitley County hooked up in a 13th Region heavyweight battle as the Panthers came away with an 88-79 win over the Colonels on Friday.
Grayson Burton came up huge for Knox Central (19-5), scoring 26 points while finishing with 10 rebounds. Tydus Summers added 15 points while Hayden Melton recorded 11 points and 10 rebounds. Evan Hubbard scored 14 points while Nathan Dunn finished with nine points. Evan Taylor finished with seven points and four rebounds while Austin Bargo scored six points.
“Great team win against a really good Whitley team,” Knox Central coach Mitchell Madden said. “We are so unselfish. All of the kids just wanna win and it shows. They don’t care who scores and we always have someone stepping up to have big game.
“Whitley played well and were after us all night on defense,” he added. “Hats off to coach Swords for being well prepared. It was an up tempo game from start to finish. We played a very discipline fourth quarter to hold on.
The loss dropped Whitley County to 18-9. The Colonels were led by Bryson Mahan’s 20 points. Henry Bowling added 18 points while Dee Parker finished with 12 points.
“We did some things well tonight,” Whitley County coach Eric Swords said. “Shared the ball well. But in crucial possessions we have to be able to execute better. We play hard but I know we got another level or two of effort in us. It’s my job to get it out of us.”
