KNIGHTDALE - West Johnston battled hard in front of Knightdale’s hometown crowd on Friday night, but could not overcome the Knights’ stonewall defense and went down in a 63-46 pounding.

The Knights (8-9, 7-3 Greater Neuse River 4A) took charge from tip-off, outscoring the Wildcats 15-6 in the first quarter.

A Knightdale defensive show painted the second quarter picture. The Knights scored six times on nine attempts from the free throw line while committing no fouls of their own.

The Wildcats (3-14, 2-8) showed composure and managed to close the scoring gap to within 2 points midway through the third quarter, but Knightdale pulled away again to hold a 13-point lead at the half.

“Tonight our team was great on defense,” Knightdale coach Battle Watkins said. “We got lots of lay-ups off turnovers our defense created.”

Knightdale continued to play off their early momentum and created a 30-point lead in the third quarter.

The Wildcats made up for the lack of free throw opportunities in the second half by forcing turnovers. They slowly closed the gap in the fourth quarter, but by then it was too late.

Despite the uneven score, West Johnston coach Kris Bennett saw some good in his team’s play and never-say-die attitude.

“We played pretty good the second half,” he said. “Knightdale is a great defensive team, but once they got rolling, we couldn’t keep up.”

He was especially pleased with contributions from reserve player Channing Joyner, who came off the bench to score 10 points in the fourth quarter, including a trio of successful 3-point shots.

“Channing played the best he has played all year. He is an excellent shooter, displayed a lot of confidence and made some great plays,” Bennett said.

Watkins praised Curry Lassiter for his contributions to the Knights’ win, scoring 21 points

“Curry is averaging 20 points a game,” Watkins said. “He is really elevating himself this season.”

The win was redeeming for the Knights, who had suffered losses to rivals East Wake and Southeast Raleigh in the week before.

“Tonight’s win was a team effort. We shared the ball well and came out strong,” Watkins said. “Those kids are resilient. We suffered some tough losses, and it was good to get the win.”

Behind Lassiter, high scorers for Knightdale were Keenan Wright with 14 points and Quez Crowell with 12.

High scorers for West Johnston were Montrell Brooks with 12 points, Joyner with 10 and Darius Williams with 9.