Olney - The Blue Knights used another huge second half run to defeat the Lake Land Lakers at "The Dungeon" on Gene Duke Court.
The Blue Knights came into the half with a 38-32 lead due to a buzzer beating three-pointer by Lake Land Freshman Malachi Davis.
For the third straight game the Blue Knights would come out of the half and go on a huge run to separate themselves. Olney Central went on a 22-3 run spanning over four minutes to take a 60-35 lead. The run started on a traditional three-point play by 6'4 Sophomore JJ Kalakon. The Blue Knights would then get a stop and Kalakon would gather the rebound and push the ball to find 6'3 Sophomore CE Talton for a three-pointer. After a made three-pointer by Lake Land's 5'10 Freshman Everett Stubblefield, 6'8 Sophomore Elijah Farr would hit a three-pointer of his own off of a pass from 6'3 Freshman Jordan Graham.
A steal by 6'5 Sophomore Cobie Montgomery on the next trip down would lead him to a breakaway dunk. After another stop by the Blue Knights, Kalakon would find Elijah Farr underneath the rim for an open layup. Lake Land would call a timeout at the 17:40 mark with the score now 51-35.
After the timeout, Olney Central would continue their run with a 9-0 flurry started by a Cobie Montgomery lob finish in transition off of a pass from Jordan Graham. CE Talton would then hit a mid-range jumper followed by a made three-pointer from Montgomery off of a pass from Kalakon. The scoring run would conclude with a Jordan Graham spin move leading to a lay in.
Lake Land would exchange baskets and go on a small runs throughout the second half but the lead would never fall to single digits. The Blue Knights would go on to win by a final score of 87-53.
Olney Central was led in production by Elijah Farr with 22 points and 11 rebounds, Cobie Montgomery finished with 19 points, CE Talton had 14 points, and 6'5 Sophomore Jordan Tchuente capped off the double figure scorers with 12 points. JJ Kalakon provided all around production with 6 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, and 2 blocks while having 0 turnovers.
As a team the Blue Knights would finish 31-65 from the field (47.7%) including 23-37 from 2-point range (62.1%) and moved the ball for 22 assists.
With the win, Olney Central would improve to 9-2 and 6-1 in the GRAC. The win also pushed the Blue Knights 3-0 on the week after previously defeating Rend Lake and #3 John A. Logan. In the month of February, the Blue Knights were 7-1.
Head Coach Casey Wyllie on the game: "We couldn't put Lake Land away in the first half. We would get it to 9 or 10 and then commit a turnover or commit. Lake Land kept coming at us and credit to them for battling. Our guys came out to start the second half with urgency and got stops that led to some looks in transition. We really shared the ball today and competed."
Olney Central plays Monday, March 1st against Kaskaskia at home in "The Dungeon" at Gene Duke Court.