PINE TWP — Rebounding and shooting.

Knoch didn't do enough of either Saturday night in a 62-44 boys basketball loss at Pine-Richland.

Despite getting 12 rebounds from 6-feet-5 forward Rob Briggs and another 10 boards from 6-3 forward Alex Whisler, the Knights were out-boarded by six in the loss.

"Against this team, we needed all five players on the floor to crash the defensive boards and we didn't do that,"Knoch coach Chris Andreassi said.

Besides Briggs and Whisler, the Knights (2-2) grabbed just eight rebounds, Kyle Reiser notching five of those.

Pine-Richland (3-2) had five players with at least five rebounds each.

"Defense comes first in this program,"Rams coach Dave Krakoff said. "Briggs is a long, athletic kid who can be dominant on the inside. As a team, we were able to counter that."

After falling behind 2-0, Pine-Richland went on a 10-0 run and never trailed again. The closest Knoch would get on the scoreboard was 21-18 — thanks to an 8-0 run of its own — with 5:56 left in the first half.

But 3-pointers by Brian Felker and Kevin Wissinger, along with an offensive rebound and stickback by 6-8 center Eric Duerr, helped the Rams build a 32-24 lead by halftime.

"As badly as they beat us on the boards in the first half, I was feeling pretty good being down by only eight,"Andreassi said. "Correct that problem and we had a great shot at winning this game.

"But we never corrected it."

Junior guard Brett Matson keyed Pine-Richland's quick start with 11 points in the first quarter. The Rams only took a 40-33 lead into the final quarter when Matson sparked them again.

He scored on three consecutive possessions, sticking back an offensive rebound, converting a three-point play and canning a short jumper. That stretch of plays gave Pine-Richland a 52-37 lead with 4:13 left and Knoch never threatened again.

Matson was high scorer in the game with 20 points. He contributed six rebounds, a handful of assists and four steals as well.

"Brett does everything for us,"Krakoff said. "He's the type of guard that you want the ball in his hands as much as possible because he makes the other four guys on the floor with him better."

Matson sank a pair of treys in the first quarter. He drove to the hoop repeatedly in the fourth.

"Once we fell behind by double-digits, we had to gamble defensively and try to mix things up on them,"Andreassi said. "That kid's a good player and he took advantage of that. He kept splitting our defenders and getting to the basket."

Duerr had 14 points and 10 rebounds for Pine-Richland while Felker added 10 points and six boards.

Reiser paced the Knights with 16 points. Briggs had 14 points to go with his 12 rebounds.

Pine-Richland had a 41-35 edge on the boards and committed 13 turnovers to Knoch's 18, using an effective half-court press.

"We were too passive against that defense,"Andreassi said. "We needed to attack it more."

The Knights needed more outside shooting as well. Mike Gallagher sank the team's lone trey against Pine-Richland's zone.

"Hit a few outside shots and the whole perspective of this game changes,"Andreassi said. "When you're making shots, deficiencies elsewhere are minimized. When you're missing shots, they're maximized."

KNOCH44Shawn Samek 2-7 1-2 5, Michael Gallagher 2-9 0-0 5, Kyle Reiser 7-12 2-2 16, Jacob McTighe 0-0 0-0 0, Rob Briggs 7-19 0-2 14, Alex Whisler 2-7 0-2 4. Totals: 20-54 3-8 44

PINE-RICHLAND62Brandon Bove 0-5 0-0 0, Brett Matson 7-17 4-4 20, Kevin Wissinger 2-9 0-0 5, Eric Schlegel 0-0 4-6 4, Ian Hennessy 0-0 0-0 0, Brian Felker 4-12 0-0 10, Nick Madia 1-8 3-4 6, Ryan Brown 1-1 1-2 3, Eric Duerr 6-10 2-4 14. Totals: 21-62 14-20 62

Knoch 10 14 9 11—44Pine-Richland 21 11 8 22—623-point goals: Gallagher; Matson 2, Wissinger, Felker 2, Madia

JV: Knoch, 62-49 (K: Patrick Walker 15, Andrew Wirtz 13, Aaron Boldy 12, Caiden Dreschler 12, P-R:Tom Hennessy 12, Mike Felker 11)

Tuesday: Knoch @Freeport