JEFFERSON TWP — Freeport boys basketball coach Garrie Davies liked what he saw from his team in the second half.

The same can't be said for Knoch's Josh Shoop.

The latter watched his team get outscored 23-6 in the final 16 minutes as the Yellowjackets opened the season with a 49-36 win on the Knights' floor Friday.

Freeport trailed 30-26 at halftime, but held Knoch to five points in the third quarter and one in the fourth. The Knights committed 14 turnovers in that span.

“I thought our defense played well tonight until the very end, when Freeport scored a good bit,” said Shoop. “But we have to do a better job of protecting the basketball.”

With the score tied at 36 early in the fourth quarter, Jake Campbell's basket put the Yellowjackets up for good.

Scores by Cody McClelland and Derek Durand pushed Freeport to 42-36 with 4:12 left.

“Our pressure defense created some things for us,” said Davies. “I thought we played a good half-court man-to-man for much of the game. We were just hoping that we'd break through on the offensive end at some point, and we did.”

Knoch (0-1) lost despite outrebounding Freeport 38-23, though the Yellowjackets did hold their own on the boards in the decisive fourth quarter.

“We're going to be playing teams that are bigger than we are,” said Davies. “For us, all five guys on the floor have to help with the rebounding.”

After shooting a respectable 11-of-24 for 45.8 percent from the field in the first half, Knoch went a dismal 1-of-17 in the final two quarters.

“We had a lot of rebounds tonight, but a lot of them came off of missed layups,” said Shoop

Junior guard Tavita Lio led the Knights with 13 points, including 10 in the second quarter, helping his team take a four-point lead into halftime.

“With a lot of our players, the potential is great,” said Shoop. “We just have to remain focused and keep getting better.”

For the game, Freeport shot 20-of-44 (45.4 percent) from the field.

Campbell, a senior guard and Freeport's lone returning starter, tallied a game-high 14 points.

FREEPORT 49Derek Durand 3 0-2 6, Brendan Lynch 2 1-3 5, Ryan Dunn 3 0-0 8, Jake Campbell 6 1-4 14, Shawn Liberto 2 4-4 8, Cody McClelland 3 0-2 6, Don Pastoria 1 0-0 2, Tyler Singer 0 0-0 0, Kevin Keppel 0 0-0 0, Sean Carson 0 0-0 0, Fred Pastoria 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 20 6-15 49.

KNOCH 36Ryan Schultheis 3 2-2 9, Jack Boros 0 1-2 1, Tavita Lio 3 6-8 13, Adam Seger 1 0-0 2, Nathan Junk 2 1-2 5, Mike Schenck 3 0-0 6, Dakota Bruggeman 0 0-1 0, Alex Strezeski 0 0-1 0, Jason Abel 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 12 10-16 36.

Freeport 17 9 8 15—49Knoch 13 17 5 1—363-point goals: Freeport 3 (Dunn 2, Campbell); Knoch 2 (Schultheis, Lio).

JV score: Knoch 31-20 (F-Ryan Dunn 8 points; K-Marc Vaughan 8 points)

Tuesday: Valley at Freeport; Knoch at Upper St. Clair