The Blue Knights faced the Rend Lake Warriors on Monday night at "The Dungeon" on Gene Duke Court, just two days after playing Wabash Valley. A hot start by both teams led to several lead exchanges before cold shooting hampered Olney Central's offense the last ten minutes of the first half. At the halftime intermission the Blue Knights trailed 28-21. The 21 points scored in the first half were the fewest of any half by the Blue Knights in the 2021 season.
The momentum in the second half changed quickly. Olney Central would get a stop on six straight possessions early in the half and go on a 10-0 run to take a 33-30 lead. The ten points came off of a traditional three-point play from 6'8 Sophomore Elijah Farr, a made three-pointer from Farr, a layup by CE Talton, and two made free throws from Talton.
After a made three-pointer by the Warriors Blake McKay, 6'1 Freshman Tahj Patterson hit a three-pointer off of a pass from JJ Kalakon to regain a three point lead heading into the under-14 minute media timeout.
On the first possession out of the timeout, the Blue Knights would score again on an emphatic dunk from Elijah Farr to extend their edge to five points. After another stop on the defensive end the Blue Knights would convert and score on another made three-pointer from Tahj Patterson. The 20-3 run by Olney Central was capped off by a transition layup by Elijah Farr.
At the conclusion of the run the Blue Knights went from down seven points (30-23) to up by ten points (43-33).
The remainder of the game would be a back and forth of runs between the two teams. Down the stretch, Olney Central received multiple three-pointers made from 6'1 Sophomore Cayman Hayes and from 6'5 Sophomore Cobie Montgomery.
Olney Central would win the game with a final score of 66-61 to move to 7-2 on the season.
It was a balanced scoring effort from the Blue Knights as they received six or more points from six players: Elijah Farr (17), Cobie Montgomery (10), CE Talton (8), Cayman Hayes (8), Tahj Patterson (7), and JJ Kalakon (6).
Olney Central plays another GRAC game against top 5 ranked John A. Logan on Wednesday, February 24th at 7:00 PM.
Head Coach Casey Wyllie on the game: "We got off to a really slow start offensively and struggled guarding the ball. We missed shots that we normally make especially on the interior. In the second half we played with much more urgency and energy. We got stops which allowed us to run in transition. We found a way to win the game."