It was a moment 25 years in the making as the class 3A 3rd ranked Knoxville Boys basketball Squad exercised several demons to defeat Keokuk on Monday night 63-55 to punch their fifth trip to Des Moines in school history and therefore became the 100th different team to qualify for a State Tournament in Knoxville School history. The Panthers got off to a quick start but the Chiefs would close the gap to four at the end of the first quarter. Both teams’ defenses played well in the second quarter with Knoxville holding a 25-21 lead at the halftime break. The Panthers were able to get a little distance in the third quarter on a 6-0 run to push the third quarter lead to eight and actually had the lead at 14 at one points, but Keokuk trimmed that down to five with 1:35 to play, but the Panthers to get enough free throws and plays to win the game. Lincoln Norris told KNIA/KRLS Sports his three point shot in the fourth was huge and that has been his story all season.

Norris: “I knew I could shoot well but when they started to fall, I knew I could make an impact. The last few games teams have started to hone in on me, and props to those teams but I figured out a way to make them.”

Panthers Coach Joel Keady told KNIA/KRLS Sports that while they did not hit a lot of their looks, it was the play down the stretch that won the game…

Keady: “Good clean looks that we’ve hit all year and a lot of that has to do with Keokuk’s defense, and we did take care of the ball down the stretch and won the game, that’s all that matters.”

Knoxville is now 24-0 and will head to the class 3A State Tournament next Tuesday with the #2 seed against 7th seed Cedar Rapids Xavier. The Panthers and Saints are set to play the early game on Tuesday morning at 10:30. You can hear that game live on 95.3 KNIA.

Photo from Ryan Northcote