FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – December 30^th, 2023
 
Portland, Ore.| The Knights came back from the Christmas break to play one game before breaking again for New Year's against Multnomah and unfortunately lost by a final of 97-95 in dramatic fashion.
 
The Knights had a solid first half putting up 54 points on the back of Caleb Tyree-Morgan and Maxwell Moses who both finished with 12 in the period. Cade Baker and Josiah Castillo contributed 8 apiece while Matt Solomon and Sean Johnson had 5. The Knights shot a cool 50% from the field hitting 7 threes along the way to go into half with an 11-pointlead 54-43. The second half started with the Knights jumping out to a 16-point lead with 17:03 left in the game. That would be the team's largest lead of the game. Matt Solomon who was locked down in the first half with just 5 points came unglued in the second half scoring 16 huge points that helped the Knights stand the tide of the second half run the Lions made.
 
Things got crazy late in the second half. The Knights were up 91-88 with .49 left on the clock when Lions, Miles Macadory, hit a three pointer while getting fouled by Maxwell Moses making the score 91-91 pending the free throw. Macadory hit the free throw giving the Lions a slim one-point lead. The game turned into a free throw game from there until Matt Solomon was fouled shooting a three pointer with 4 seconds left with the Knights down 94-93. Solomon hit the first to tie and then missed the second which was then followed by a Multnomah timeout to try to ice Matt for the third free throw. Matt hit the third free throw which was followed by another timeout by Multnomah to try to draw up a game winning play. The play was a ¾ court throw in from the opposite baseline to Tyrese Taylor who was free throw line extended. Taylor fumbled the ball a little, taking him back to the three-point line and turned around to heave the ball towards the hoop. The scene was impressive as Taylor nailed the shot and then ran down to the opposite end of the court while his team's bench cleared to chase him down and celebrate the victory.
 
The Knights were led in scoring once again by Matt Solomon who had 21 points on 7-19 shooting. He also racked up 8 boards, 4 assists, and a steal. Cade Baker and Caleb Tyree-Morgan each had 17 while Maxwell Moses had 14 and Sean Johnson had 10 to round out the Knights in double figures.
 
The Knights as a team shot 44% from the field including 37.5% from three. The Knights also shot 20-23 from the charity stripe, good enough for 87%.
 
Next Up
It was a tough loss for the Knights to take who have now extended their losing streak to 10 games. They will look to enjoy their New Year's break and then will practice and get ready to play Oregon Tech in Klamath Falls next Friday at 7:30pm.