STEPPING UP — Aaron Estep gets by the Doddridge defense to score on a layup during Friday’s LKC conference clash.

After facing a loaded schedule the week before, Tyler Consolidated’s boys basketball team had another rough stretch playing three games in four days.

None of them were cake walks either.

First up for the Silver Knights were the neighboring Doddridge County Bulldogs in LKC action. The two teams provided a great game to watch and was a close contest from start to finish.

Both teams started out by scoring 15 points in the first quarter. Tyler Consolidated concentrated their efforts on utilizing Zach Perkey after Doddridge County big man Matt Middleton was subbed out of the ball game for picking up a personal foul on Perkey driving to the hoop with a technical foul shortly after. As a result, Perkey scored eight points during the initial eight minutes.

Tyler Consolidated’s offense was slightly less productive in the second quarter, scoring only four field goals, but they made them important as the defense stifled the Bulldogs.

Six of the Knights’ 10 points came on three pointers from Dustin Snider and Zack Minger while the defense kept the Bulldogs to five points going into the halftime break up 25-20.

In the third quarter, it was the Doddridge County defense that stepped up, now allowing an inside shot to fall.

Minger’s three would be Tyler Consolidated’s only field goal of the third, but he would get his fair share of attempts from the free throw line, successfully making four of four.

Snider also added a foul shot for an eight point quarter, but Doddridge County found a resurgence and tied the game up at 33-33 at the end of the third quarter.

The Bulldogs used that to turn the momentum in their favor and carried it into the fourth quarter where they put up another 13.

The Knights still had opportunities to win the game as they scored nine points on deuces by Perkey, Minger, and Aaron Estep along with a three by Boone Kehrer, but a problem arose in foul shooting down the stretch.

Together, the team was 0-6 from the charity stripe down the stretch with at least half of those being the front end of 1-and-1’s.

But as the clock reached zeros, the final score read 46-42 in favor of the neighbors of the east.

Perkey and Minger paced the Silver Knights with12 points each. Snider scored eight points, followed by Estep with five, Lowe with three, and two by Cory Lowe.

After taking one on the chin 69-30 to Charleston Catholic, arguably one of the best teams in the state regardless of class, The Knights traveled to Wheeling on Monday to play the Linsly Cadets.

Unfortunately for the Knights, the former military institute shot the lights out, outscoring their visitors 21-10 and 20-10 in the first and second quarters.

The second half was more competitive in scoring, but Linsly remained in firm control of the game and went on to win 79-55.

Perkey led the charge with 20 points, a game high. Kehrer had a strong game off the bench with nine points. Snider added seven. Estep scored six, while Minger and Darren Oliver scored five. Zack Knowlton etched the scoring books with a three pointer.