The road to the State Tournament begins for the Knoxville Boys Basketball Squad on Monday as the Panthers host Creston in the opening game of the class 3A substate two. The black and gold Panthers are the two seed and welcome the red and black Panthers from Creston in a matchup that rarely has happened between the schools, due to distance in between. Creston is 5-16 this season and finished in the tie for 9th in the Hawkeye Ten Conference, while Knoxville is 19-3 and swept the South Central Conference for the second straight season. While Creston does not have the wins Coach Joel Keady knows sometimes the record does not speak for what kind of a team will show up.

Keady. “The record is probably not what it wants to be, but we played Newton who was seven or 8-14. We’re going to have to come out and focus on their main guys and do what we do really really well.”

Rhett Driskal led the red and black Panthers scoring over 20 points per game, but he is the only player that scores in double figures. The two schools last played in a 2005 Substate final in which Creston won 58-34. Monday’s coverage is on 95.3 KNIA starting with the pregame at 6:30.