JEFFERSON TWP — Heading into the fourth quarter, the Knoch boys basketball team was in quite the tussle with visiting Freeport.

The Knights led by just four in a back-and-forth, crisply played game.

First-year Knoch coach Alan Bauman, who played in high school at Freeport, addressed his team between the third and fourth quarters.

The message: intensity on defense.

Knoch's renewed vigor on the defensive end led to turnovers, which in turn led to quick points as the Knights turned a close game into a 71-55 win over Freeport at home Friday night.

“We've been preaching defense for the last two weeks,” Bauman said.

The congregation listened.

Especially Tyler Buterbaugh, who had the task of following Freeport guard Vinnie Clark all over the court.

Clark still ended up with a team-leading 16, but his impact was lessened during a frantic fourth quarter that saw Knoch put up 27 points.

Defense producing offense.

“Tyler and Blaze (Voltz) put their imprint on this game,” Bauman said.

So did Ryan Lang.

The junior guard scored put up 30 points for Knoch.

He scored 11 of those points in the first quarter on 4-of-4 shooting.

In the second half, Knoch (5-7, 4-4) was much more balanced.

Voltz scored 11 of his 14 in the final two quarters and Keagan Fraser also reached double-digits with 12.

“I thought tonight was the best we did getting touches and spreading the ball,” Bauman said. “We moved the ball, moved the ball and it opened things up for other people.”

He was particularly pleased with the way Voltz played.

“I'm so happy for that kid,” Bauman said. “He was a big difference for us.”

For Freeport (4-5, 4-4), the loss was a difficult one.

The Yellowjackets came into the game winners of four of their last five games and were down 44-40 with possession to start the fourth quarter.

But a turnover on that opening possession of the third cascaded into more miscues that Freeport could never overcome.

“That deflated us,” said Freeport coach Wayne Greiser. “That's not the way you want to start the fourth. You're talking about being down by two or one point and instead it snowballs from there.

“We felt realistically if we could have taken care of the ball, we could have gotten a lead and put pressure on them,” Greiser added.

Conner Holloway scored 13 points and Cole Charlton pitched in 11 for Freeport.

“We felt like this was going to be a little different than the first time we played them (a 79-63 loss),” Greiser said. “We had a good gameplan and we were in that gameplan for the first three quarters. Then we turned the ball over and we got into panic mode.”

FREEPORT 55

Ben Lane 4-12 0-0 8, Vinnie Clark 7-13 1-1 16, Conner Holloway 5-7 1-1 13, Cole Chartlton 4-7 2-2 11, Jason Kijowski 2-6 0-0 5, Zach Clark 1-1 0-2 2, Gavin Croney 0-0 0-0 0, Parker Lucas 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 23-47 4-6 55.

KNOCH 71

Keagan Fraser 4-9 4-7 12, Blaze Voltz 4-7 3-5 14, Ryan Lang 10-14 6-7 30, Tyler Butterbaugh 1-5 2-2 4, Zach McMillen 3-6 1-1 7, Cole Green 2-7 0-0 4, JJ Szebalskie 0-0- 0-0 0. Totals: 24-48 16-22 71.

Freeport 15 9 16 15 — 55

Knoch15 14 15 27 — 71

3-point goals: Freeport 5 (V. Clark, Holloway 2, Charlton, Kijowski)

Saturday: Knoch at Hampton

Monday: Freeport at Kiski