The tale of two teams having completely different seasons. The Knights are 2-12 while the Greyhounds are 12-3. The Knights were without key player Malaki Nunn and you could see the difference in their post play. Issues with rebounding and defending down low were evident.  

The Knights came out hot. Forward Brady Flahavin banked in a three to get things started for the Knights. Then, Carsen Mertens hit a floater to get out to a 5-0 lead for East Valley. Gavin Dealy started getting in the post and utilizing his 6-foot-6 frame. 

Once the Knights had to focus on Dealy, Vaughn Holstad got going hitting multiple layups and threes. Once Dealy and Vaughn got going, the entire Greyhound starting lineup found their footing and never looked back. 

Four out of the five Greyhound starters outscored the Knights themselves. Dealy put up 16 points, Holstad posted 15, Brandon Brown had 16 and Cade Rogers squeaked in 14. 

With Nunn out for the Knights they relied heavily on senior Carsen Mertens but he was only able to get one shot to fall. The Knights offense ran through Nunn but with his shots not falling he started to look for his teammates to get them involved. Freshman Logan Hansen went on a 9-0 run hitting three straight from beyond the arc. Hansen was the highest scorer for the Knights and only player to score in the double digits. 

While the Knights ultimately lived and died  by the three , the Greyhounds drove the basketball and shot two times the amount of two pointers as the Knights. 

“Having Malaki would have changed things on defense for sure we did not have the size to defend number one,” Mertens said. 

While the Greyhounds pummeled the Knights they got off to a slow start and were not happy about it. Against top teams they know it can lead to losses. 

“We cannot expect them to roll over and just let win and we let them get ahead early but we were able to come back and play our basketball,” Vaughn said.