Knights ground Eagles

The Colony Knights boys' team demonstrated just how dominating a total team effort can be in its basketball game against the West Eagles Friday.

With outstanding rebounding and team defense, the Knights destroyed the Eagles 72-41 in front of the home crowd at Colony High School.

"This group played consistently hard tonight," said Colony coach Phil Engebretsen. "It's taken some time, but the players are now finding their role on the team."

Colony dominated rebounding on both ends of the court, crashing the boards to give the Knights second and third opportunities on offense while limiting the Eagles to one shot. Joe Reza led the Knights with 16 rebounds in the game, establishing dominance early for the Knights by muscling inside to fight for rebounds.

"We're not any bigger than they are, we were just able to get inside," said Reza. "We started hitting the boards well in the game against East and it continued tonight."

Both teams got off to a slow start scoring with a 2-2 tie three minutes into the game. Colony's hustling defense created turnovers with a stifling pursuit, allowing West players little room to maneuver on offense.

West came out with a press defense immediately into the game, but Colony had little trouble breaking it to move up the court and set up its offense.

Brandon Hyslip gave the Knights a 13-6 lead with a hook shot at the buzzer to end the first quarter.

Colony completely decimated the Eagles in the second quarter with a 22-2 scoring run in the quarter to surge the Knights to a 35-8 halftime lead.

Colony completely ruled the boards in the second quarter, getting repeated shots off rebounds.

The Knights scored 17 straight points before West scored its first basket five minutes into the quarter.

"They were getting decent looks at the basket," said Reza. "They just weren't hitting the shots."

The missed shots buried West as Colony denied the Eagles any opportunity for a second shot.

Colony kept the pace into the second half, increasing its lead to 54-21 by the end of the third quarter with a good mixture of outside shooting and inside penetration. The defense continued its strong hold as the Eagles began pumping three-point attempts to try to get back in the game.

With a huge lead in the fourth quarter, Engebretsen began filtering in reserve players to get them playing time and give the starters a rest.

The Knights still never let down, continuing with an 18-point fourth quarter that gave Colony the 72-41 victory.

"We did a good job protecting the ball and playing defense," said Engebretsen. "The true test will be against Wasilla Tuesday. We need to take care of the ball and get rebounds."

The Colony boys and girls will host the Warriors tonight at Colony High School.