Photo by James Parrish North Platte Community College's Damon Brown guards Bronson Moton of Northeastern Junior College.

With a strong defensive effort on Tuesday night, the North Platte Community College mens' basketball team earned a 63-43 win over Northeastern Junior College at the McDonald-Belton Gymnasium.

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Both teams had trouble getting into a rhythm offensively to start the game. But NPCC (6-1) had an easier time than NJC.

With a little more than eight minutes into the game, the Knights took an 11-5 lead after Jake Maslo tipped in a miss by Robert Lewis.

Then with 3:35 left in the half, NPCC opened up a 24-14 lead when Booba Casse made a jump shot from 18 feet that followed another basket by Maslo.

The Knights led 32-19 at halftime but NJC made an 11-2 run to begin the second half. But NPCC responded with a run of its own and within a couple of minutes, the lead was back up to double digits and before long, the margin became 20.

The Plainsmen from Sterling, Colo. couldn't overcome the Knights' defense to make a significant run to get back into it.

The win over Northeastern marks the fifth straight win for NPCC.

Northeastern JC 43

North Platte CC 63

Halftime: North Platte CC 32, Northeastern JC 19

Northeastern JC (43)-DeAndre Clayton 4, Alex Sattley 2, Kameron Pearce 9, Jeremy McDonald 2, Patrick Minter 1, Bronson Moton 5, Joseph Dellenbach 7, Jamal Peterson 9, Jacob Lancaster 2, Austin Gamblin 2

North Platte CC (63)-Robert Lewis 4, Damon Brown 11, Ethan Montalvo 14, Ben Wilson 13, Booba Casse 9, Jake Maslo 6, Jack Kraemer 2, Eric Richardson 4

Free Throws: NJC 4-8, NPCC 10-11; Three Point Goals: NJC 5 (Pearce 2, Moton, Dellenbach, Peterson), NPCC 5 (Montalvo 2, Brown, Wilson, Casse); Rebounds: NJC 27, NPCC 35; Turnovers: NJC 15, NPCC 11