It was a tale of two halves as the St. Charles Saints defeated the Kingsland Knights 79-68 in Spring Valley on KVGO in Three Rivers Conference action! The Saints started the second half on a 18-0 run en route to the victory.

The Knights were able to control the game early, as the Saints struggled from the field early in the game Kingsland led by as much as 12 in the first half, getting stellar play from Zach Buchholtz. Buchholtz was able to cut, drive and hit a couple three pointers on his way to a team-high 16 points in the first half.

Kingsland did a great job early in the game of limiting second-chance opportunities, forcing the Saints to take long three-point shots, and it really benefited them. The Knights did a great job of moving the ball, and finding the open man to get the lead.

St. Charles would not let the lead last long, as they started to attack the rim, force turnovers, and get back into the game. The Saints took a 36-25 lead after Kaden Vaughn hit a three-pointer, but Buchholtz came right back and hit a three of his own to take a 28-26 lead. This led to nine lead changes in the first half, but St. Charles was able to go on a late run that concluded with a Drew Leistikow 3 at the buzzer to take a 42-36 lead after the half.

After an entertaining first half, the Saints took off on an 18-0 run to start the second half that put the Saints in the position to get the victory. Kaden Vaughn hit six three-point shots to gather 18 points, but he was also very good at grabbing rebounds and setting up the offense.

It was a fun game to call, as both teams played with a lot of pace, switched up their defenses and it had a lot of back and forth action. The Saints hit 12 three's in the victory.

Leistikow led the Saints with 20 points, while Buchholtz finished with 18 to lead the Knights. Jackson Rindles and Wyatt Pruter had 11 each, while Zach Bubany had 12 for Kingsland.

Subway Player of the Game (St. Charles) - Drew Leistikow

Subway Player of the Game (Kingsland) - Zach Bucholtz

Kingsley Mercantile Game Ball - Kaden Vaughn (St Charles)

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