FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - November 26th, 2024

Portland, Ore.| The first conference game of the season did not end the way the Warner Pacific Knights had drawn up as they suffered a loss to the Lions of Multanomah with a final score of 73-51. 

The game started off back and forth with both teams fighting for the lead but as the first quarter came to a close, the Lions pulled ahead and kept that lead for the rest of the game. At half the Knights were down 41-35 and hoped to fight back but were only able to score 16 total points in the second half.

Shooting was the downfall of the Knights as they found shots not landing. They shot 32.8% from the field and was 3-27 from distance. Free throws were their highest, as they made 10 of their 16 attempts, but these did not build enough to bring the Knights to victory. The big downfall was turnovers as the Knights had 21 which led to 25 points for the Lions. 

Defense was the Knights was the strongest area of the night as they had 43 rebounds, created 12 turnovers and had nine second chance points. The strong defensive performance can be accredited to Alexa Mee who had nine rebounds, four of which were offensive. 

Individually on offense, McKeeley Tonkin made 15 of the Knights points and accounted for two of their made threes during the game. Following in points was Sophomore Alex Saunders who had nine points and two assists. Overall, the Knights showed the right steps, and hope to learn from the game today and take it into the rest of the season.

"Multnomah did a great job defensively," Head Coach Jimmy Smith said. "After a short break, its going to be back to work."

The Knights next game is not until Friday, December 6th where they will travel to Salem, Oregon to take on Corban University at 5:30pm. They will continue the road trip that weekend, heading to Eugene to play Bushnell University. The game will take place in the Morse center with tip off set for 3pm.