When the New Castle Trojans traveled to Fountain City on Friday, Jan. 3, for a nonconference game, the Knights knew they would be challenged. The Trojans took a 12-2 lead after the first quarter and were in control. The Knights battled back to cut their deficit to 3 points at halftime and took an 8-point lead into the fourth quarter.
The Trojans stormed back to tie the game at 49-49 at the end of regulation and force an overtime period.
The Knights pulled away in the extra period to take a 57-51 win to improve to 10-0 on the season. Tre Vanlandingham led the Knights with 16 points. Noah Payne scored 13 points, and Sam White scored 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
Northeastern (10-0) 2 20 22 5 8 57
Payne 13, Kaleb Moore 8, Logan Seal 0, Vanlandingham 16, Landon Scarrette 8, Matthew Truitt 0, White 12, Cooper Cline 0 — Total 57
New Castle (1-7) 12 13 11 13 2 51
A version of this article appeared in the January 8 2025 print edition of the Western Wayne News.