The last week of the regular season for the men’s varsity basketball team gave them good momentum heading into the sectional tournament coming up this week. The Knights played the Turpin Spartans, who are second in the ECC, and the Anderson Redskins, who are last in the ECC.

On Tuesday, February 12th, the Knights faced off against the Spartans for their last home game of the season, which was also senior night. The Knights had a commanding 8 point lead at the start of the fourth quarter, with help from senior Isaac Burnside, who scored a season high 15 points. With the time winding down, the Spartans had a huge scoring burst with help from Nick Haddad, who scored 24 points for Turpin.

Turpin inbounded the ball with about 4 seconds left in the game; down by 1, they threw up a shot of desperation, which was blocked by senior Jack Hussey. All of the sudden, a Turpin player grabbed the ball and threw up a fade away shot. As the buzzer sounded, the ball swished through the net and the Spartans won the game 55-54.

The Knights tried to get back on track with a game at Anderson on Friday, February 15th. Even though it was a low scoring game, the Knights barely trailed most of the game.

With the help of senior Briton Longwell and his season high 14 points, the Knights won the game 38-36.

The Knights will travel to Hamilton to play the Little Miami Panthers this week on Thursday, February 21st, for the first round of the sectional tournament as they hope to stay hot and get to the second round with a win.

The Lady Knights basketball team concluded their season last Saturday, February 16th, in the first round of OHSAA tournament play. The team fought hard to the very end, but ultimately the size of Loveland prevailed, bringing the Lady Knights season to an end by a score of 49-37. Kings was led by a trio of eight point scorers, seniors Devin Biesbrock and Jordyn Rhodes, along with junior Summer Bush.

The game was the last for the five seniors on the roster, four of which saw Varsity time in all four years of their high school careers here at Kings.

The 2019 group was no doubt a special one; all five seniors made all-ECC, with Devin Biesbrock and Carolyn Bruns earning first-team honors, Lexi Sparks and Jordyn Rhodes earned second-team, and Gabi Gurley earned all conference honorable mention.

Head coach and Kings graduate Katelyn Haralamos had this to say in regards to her team and specifically this year’s senior class, “Not the ending we wanted but I love these girls with all of my heart. This senior group is incredibly special and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for every one of them. Thank you to everyone who has supported us this season.” Via Twitter.

Three of these seniors will be taking their talents to the collegiate level next fall. Lexi Sparks will be heading to Defiance College (basketball), Devin Biesbrock will go to Williams College (basketball), and Jordyn Rhodes will be going to Indiana University (soccer).

Good luck to all of the 2019 senior players in their future endeavors with their academic and athletic careers!