KNIGHTDALE - Brian Okoye’s shot at the buzzer forced overtime, and Knightdale – led by 26 points from center Curry Lassiter – held off cold shooting Clayton to take a 75-72 Greater Neuse River 4-A Conference victory on Jan. 13.

“This is the first (close game) we have won,” said Knights’ coach Battle Watkins, whose squad improved to 5-1 in the GNRC and 7-7 overall. “We lost a bunch of non-conference games early in the season by four or five points, and we were fortunate to get this one. I give Clayton a lot of credit – no matter how well we played in spurts, they always had an answer.”

The second half featured 16 lead changes and three ties, as both teams came up with huge athletic plays. The fourth quarter alone had 10 lead changes and one tie.

Clayton (5-2 GNRC, 10-4 overall) led 61-58 on a driving basket by Tre Clayton with just over three minutes remaining, but Okoye’s two free throws sliced the deficit to one, and a basket by Lassiter over Clayton sophomore Gary Clark gave the Knights a 62-61 lead with 2:39 left.

The excitement was just getting started.

The teams traded the lead – first when Adonis Bank’s follow gave the Comets a 63-62 edge with 1:55 showing, then 16 seconds later Knightdale regained it on a basket by Okoye. Marquevious Johnson’s two foul shots put the Knights ahead 66-63 with 1:10 left.

After a flurry of activity, Clayton cut it to one on two free throws by Banks with 47 seconds left. Kyle Bryant then came up with a steal and the Comets called timeout to set up their final shot.

Banks then buried a three-pointer from left of the key to give Clayton a 68-66 advantage with 14 seconds left.

“That kid (Banks) made a big shot,” Watkins said. “Then our guy (Okoye) was able to make a good play at the end.”Okoye found himself with the ball just outside the paint and drove towards Clark. He was slightly bumped in the air but was able to make the bucket as time expired, sending the contest into a four-minute overtime tied at 68.

“Every time we have played them in the last six or seven years, it’s always been a great game,” Watkins said. “It’s fun to play these guys.”

Knightdale then outscored the Comets 7-4 in the extra session as Clayton went just 1-for-8 from the field.

Lassiter scored to give the Knights a 70-68 lead and Kaelon Weldon’s two free throws made it a four-point lead with 3:02 left.

Clayton was able to tie it at 72-all after two free throws and a tip-in by Clark – but the Comets didn’t score in the final 1:16, missing their last two shots, including a 3-pointer by Clark that hit the left side of the rim as time expired.

Lassiter was 8-for-16 from the field for his 26 points to lead all scorers. He also grabbed five rebounds in his battle with Clark, who had 13 points for Clayton.

“Curry is unorthodox with how he spins and gets to the basket,” Watkins said. “Most big kids have a drop-step or a hook, but he is undersized in the post at 6-foot-3 and a half. But he uses his quickness and shoulder fakes to his advantage and is able to squeeze the shots off quickly before the big guy gets over. Obviously Gary altered a lot of Curry’s shots, but Curry was the difference in the middle because we didn’t have to settle for jump shots.”

Okoye added 16 points for the Knights, who shot 24-for-50 from the field (48 percent) and were 12 of 13 from the foul line.

Clayton was led by Banks with 18 and Anthony Gaskins with 15. Rodney Moore also contributed 14 for the Comets, who shot 50 percent (18-36) from the floor.

“I feel better about the way we played tonight than in the win against West Johnston because I felt we competed hard,” CHS coach Denny Medlin said. “It was a great game, and there were things we didn’t do in stretches, but I can’t fault them because they were fighting and competing so hard. Obviously if we had made that last defensive stop in regulation, we win – but the kid (Okoye) made a great play.”

Knightdale trailed 8-3 early but used defense to fuel a 17-4 run at the end of the first quarter for a 20-12 lead. The Knights extended their advantage to 11 on two occasions in the second quarter before Clayton responded with a 13-4 run (highlighted by baskets from Kyle Bryant, Moore, Clark and Banks) to cut the deficit to two, 32-30, at the break.

“We didn’t take care of the ball and they got points in transition,” Medlin said. “When we took care of the ball, we ran our offense better.”