Coming off a 5-17 season that saw the Knoxville Boys Basketball Squad in a rebuild mode, the Panthers return this season with 95% of the scoring back from last season. The Panthers played mostly freshmen and sophomores last season and now those players are a year older and wiser to the game. This past Tuesday, the Panthers played Winterset in the Achieve Game, a preseason game that ties a team to a community service project. While the Panthers lost to the Huskies, it was much closer than last season’s first round class 3A sub state game where Knoxville fell 83-37. Tuesday, Knoxville fell 83-to-70. Coach Troy Pearson tells KNIA/KRLS Sports the game showed his team what they need to work on before the season opener.

Pearson: “One disappointing thing is we gave up 83 points, so our defense has been a point of emphasis, and Coach Henry has them playing very well. That was what we talked about in the locker room. even with the loss we were much closer to them than last year.”

A more experienced Panthers will feature Carson Uitermarkt, Landon Norris, Gabe Clark, Koby Higginbotham and Noah Keefer among others. Pearson adds they still are figuring out the starting five and what rotations fit. Knoxville opens its season Tuesday at PCM, which is our first broadcast of the basketball season on 95.3 KNIA.