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	Knights End Season With Loss To Wenonah Arab Knights Jake Mann, Connor Bedsole, and Jonathan Embry, defend against a Wenonah player during Tuesday's Regional semifinal at Jacksonville State University. Arab Today photo by Dwight Hayes The faces on the Arab bench tell the story as the minutes tick away in the fourth quarter and the Knights are unable to cut into the Wenonah lead. Arab Today photo by Dwight Hayes The best season on record for the Arab Knights Boys Basketball came to an end Tuesday as the Knights lost to Wenonah High School in the Northeast Regional Semi-final game. Despite a valiant effort by the Knights that kept the game close until about the middle of the third quarter, Wenonah was able to pull off a 75-46 win and move on to the regional final game on Friday. The Knights final record for the season was 26-6 after the loss. The Weonah lead was only 6 points at the end of both the first and second quarter. Wenonah took a 28-22 lead into the half-time locker room but was able to make adjustments in the third quarter. They outscored Arab 25-8 in the third quarter and 22-16 in the fourth quarter to open up and insurmountable lead. Wenonah held the Knights field goal shooting to only 30.2% while they were able to hit 50% of their 2 pointers. The Knights hti 33.3% of their three point shots while Wenonah was successful on 37.5%. From the free throw line Arab hit 69.6% while Wenonah hit 88.9%. Lake Graham and Jonathan Knighton led the Arab scoring with 10 points each, followed by Jonathan Embry with 7, Blake Harbin with 6, Grant Lake 4, and Jacob Mann 3. After the game, Wenonah Coach Cedric Lane said that the game was not what he expected. "We didn't expect to be able to score that many points against Arab after watching tape from their games. We knew the key for us was to try and shut down point guard Jonathan Embry and try to take him out of the game." Lane said. "We didn't think anyone else was capable of running the offense like # 1." Connor Bedsole crosses center court as he drives along the side line against a Wenonah defender. Arab Coach Faron Key said that despite the loss, he was very proud of the players and the effort that they put forth. Key said, "We knew that we had to stay mentally tough to stay in the game." "We knew that turnovers were going to happen but the ball handling errors that led to turnovers sort of doomed us mid-way in the 3rd quarter." Key said he was proud of the 14 straight wins the team had chalked up coming into the game. "We ended the season with 26 wins, the most in school history as far as we know. Two years ago we went 6-21 and last year we were 17-15." Key said this year was the step we wanted to take the program to the next level. "I wish we played more teams like this one during our regular season so that we can see this kind of quickness." Key said he was really proud of his seniors. "These guys were in the 7th grade when I came to Arab and I have coached most of them through their entire high school career." Jonathan Knighton drives toward the goal during the regional game against Wenonah.

Knights End Season
With Loss To Wenonah

Arab Knights Jake Mann, Connor Bedsole, and Jonathan Embry, defend against a Wenonah player during Tuesday's Regional semifinal at Jacksonville State University. Arab Today photo by Dwight Hayes

The faces on the Arab bench tell the story as the minutes tick away in the fourth quarter and the Knights are unable to cut into the Wenonah lead. Arab Today photo by Dwight Hayes

The best season on record for the Arab Knights Boys Basketball came to an end Tuesday as the Knights lost to Wenonah High School in the Northeast Regional Semi-final game. Despite a valiant effort by the Knights that kept the game close until about the middle of the third quarter, Wenonah was able to pull off a 75-46 win and move on to the regional final game on Friday. The Knights final record for the season was 26-6 after the loss.

The Weonah lead was only 6 points at the end of both the first and second quarter. Wenonah took a 28-22 lead into the half-time locker room but was able to make adjustments in the third quarter. They outscored Arab 25-8 in the third quarter and 22-16 in the fourth quarter to open up and insurmountable lead.

Wenonah held the Knights field goal shooting to only 30.2% while they were able to hit 50% of their 2 pointers. The Knights hti 33.3% of their three point shots while Wenonah was successful on 37.5%. From the free throw line Arab hit 69.6% while Wenonah hit 88.9%.

Lake Graham and Jonathan Knighton led the Arab scoring with 10 points each, followed by Jonathan Embry with 7, Blake Harbin with 6, Grant Lake 4, and Jacob Mann 3.

After the game, Wenonah Coach Cedric Lane said that the game was not what he expected. "We didn't expect to be able to score that many points against Arab after watching tape from their games. We knew the key for us was to try and shut down point guard Jonathan Embry and try to take him out of the game." Lane said. "We didn't think anyone else was capable of running the offense like # 1."

Connor Bedsole crosses center court as he drives along the side line against a Wenonah defender.

Arab Coach Faron Key said that despite the loss, he was very proud of the players and the effort that they put forth. Key said, "We knew that we had to stay mentally tough to stay in the game." "We knew that turnovers were going to happen but the ball handling errors that led to turnovers sort of doomed us mid-way in the 3rd quarter."

Key said he was proud of the 14 straight wins the team had chalked up coming into the game. "We ended the season with 26 wins, the most in school history as far as we know. Two years ago we went 6-21 and last year we were 17-15." Key said this year was the step we wanted to take the program to the next level. "I wish we played more teams like this one during our regular season so that we can see this kind of quickness."

Key said he was really proud of his seniors. "These guys were in the 7th grade when I came to Arab and I have coached most of them through their entire high school career."

Jonathan Knighton drives toward the goal during the regional game against Wenonah.