JEFFERSON TWP — The first half of the third quarter did not go well for the Knoch boys basketball team.

The rest of the game, however, belonged to the Knights.

Knoch managed just three field goal attempts in the first 3:35 of the period, missed them all and turned the ball over five times as Freeport extended its lead to 28-18.

The Knights would then finish the game on a 33-17 run in a 51-45 win that concluded the Conlon Tarker King of the Court Classic Saturday evening at Knoch High.

Slippery Rock toppled Moniteau in the day's first game, 68-41.

Knoch's comeback began with Robert Zanella's two-point basket with 4:20 left in the third, which cut his team's deficit to 28-20.

Senior guard Andrew Wirtz then took over, scoring nine points by the end of the period, including a 3-pointer before the buzzer that handed Knoch a 34-31 lead with one quarter to play.

Wirtz and Jake McTighe both led Knoch with 16 points.

"Andrew is the epitome of relentless," said Knights' coach Chris Andreassi. "It's there in everything he does.

"He was able to work himself into the zone there for a bit," he added.

Freeport's tailspin continued into the fourth quarter when senior guards Tyler Collins and Alex Isenberg fouled out within 1:20 of each other.

But Freeport coach Garrie Davies focused more on missed opportunities after the game.

"We were up by a bit, but weren't able to add to our lead because we missed so many shots," he said. "That put our defense in a bad position."

The Yellowjackets (1-1) cut their deficit to 48-43 with Jake Campbell's 3-pointer with just over a minute to play, but the Knights (2-0) sealed the game with free throws from Corey Miller, McTighe and Adam Seger.

"The kids took it upon themselves to make it happen," Andreassi said. "Offensively, we made some extra passes and got better looks. And on defense, I thought Kevin Wood did a great job for us in the second half."

Nick Gentile, Darius Frantz and Isenberg each scored 10 points for Freeport.

McTighe pulled down 11 rebounds for Knoch.

Slippery Rock 68, Moniteau 41

In Friday's 56-45 loss to Freeport, Slippery Rock ran out of gas down the stretch.

Saturday, the Rockets displayed a high-octane attack early on before cruising to their first win of the season.

Slippery Rock scored as many points in the first quarter (28) against the Warriors as it did in the entire first half Friday night.

The onslaught was led by Alec McDeavitt's 15 points in the first eight minutes, as the Rockets led 28-11 after one quarter and 42-22 at halftime.

McDeavitt led all scorers with 20 points, while teammates Brian Giesler (19) and Ryan Gordon (15) also reached double figures.

"We feel we have five, six or seven guys who can do that for us," said Rockets' coach Phil Bushre. "We moved the ball around well, I think we ended up with almost one assist for every basket.

"It was a good bounce-back game for us," he added.

Moniteau's offense sputtered, committing 27 turnovers, though coach Randy Armagost saw inspired play from his bench.

"The younger kids played well," he said. "They took the ball to the basket, had less turnovers and played good, hard-nosed defense.

"What it comes down to for us is on offense, we're just not making shots," added Armagost. "And we're not talking with each other on defense."

FREEPORT 45Nick Gentile 4 2-4 10, Tyler Collins 1 0-0 2, Darius Frantz 4 2-7 10, Alex Isenberg 4 2-2 10, Jake Campbell 3 2-5 9, Shawn Liberto 1 0-0 2, Don Pastoria 0 2-4 2.

Totals: 17 10-22 45.

KNOCH 51Nathan Junk 0 3-4 3, Corey Miller 0 1-2 1, Andrew Wirtz 6 2-2 16, Chris Cetnar 3 1-1 7, Jake McTighe 3 10-17 16, Kevin Wood 1 2-4 4, Robert Zanella 1 0-4 2, Adam Seger 0 2-4 2.

Totals: 14 21-38 51.

Freeport 11 9 11 14—45Knoch 8 10 16 17—513-point goals: Freeport (Campbell); Knoch 2 (Wirtz 2).

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

SLIPPERY ROCK 68Brent Ayers 1 1-2 3, Justin Bennett 1 1-2 3, Brian Giesler 7 5-8 19, Ryan Gordon 6 1-4 15, Alec McDeavitt 8 1-2 20, Andrew Waryanka 1 0-0 2, Ryan Thompson 2 0-0 4, Cody Wolinski 0 2-4 2, Caleb Whitney 0 0-2 0, Dan Bertozzi 0 0-0 0, Perry Christey 0 0-0 0, Ben Hawley 0 0-0 0, John Mitrik 0 0-0 0, Sonny Walsh 0 0-0 0, Andrew Gierltowski 0 0-0 0, Ty Udy 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 26 11-24 68.

MONITEAU 41Kyle Armagost 3 1-2 9, Zach Sloan 3 1-2 7, Austin Hogsett 1 0-0 2, Zach McCormick 1 2-2 5, Jereme Loos 2 0-0 4, Mitch Hunter 3 0-0 7, Andrew Armagost 2 0-0 5, Dalton Shuler 1 0-0 2, Heath Lominski 0 0-2 0, Lewis Martino 0 0-0 0, Mike George 0 0-0 0, Jordan Smith 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 16 4-8 41.

Slippery Rock 28 14 15 11—68Moniteau 11 11 11 8—413-point goals: Slippery Rock 5 (McDeavitt 3, Gordon 2); Moniteau 5 (K. Armagost 2, McCormick, Hunter, A. Armagost).

Tuesday: West Middlesex at Slippery Rock

Wednesday: Moniteau at Venango Catholic