BUFFALO TWP — Despite having Matt Zanella on the bench with two early fouls, the Knoch boys basketball team didn’t miss a beat.

PJ Gourley came off the bench and scored eight of his 13 points in the first half as the Knights rolled to a 62-37 win over Kittanning at the Freeport Christmas Tournament Friday night.

“Z got a couple of fouls and we had to sit him,” said Knoch coach Ron McNabb. “But PJ came in and was a monster on the boards, finished and got to the free throw line a lot. I was really happy with how all of our bigs did.”

Zanella returned and ended up with a game-high 14 points for Knoch (5-3), which has won four straight.

Austin Hannes added 11 points, nine coming in the second half as the Knights pulled away.

Devin Campbell came off the bench to score nine points and Jackson McKee added four points for Knoch, which has received big contributions from the reserves during the winning streak.

“I’m really comfortable with nine guys, nine guys deep,” McNabb said. “We play a lot of sophomores and they are still understanding what it takes to play at this level. Once we get those guys acclimated to the speed of the game, that’s going to make us that much better.”

Knoch led 28-15 at the half and 47-31 after three quarters, but really opened up the gap in the fourth quarter to cruise to the win.

Noah Spang and Zane Dudek each scored 13 points to lead Kittanning.

Knoch will play Avonworth at 5 p.m. Saturday to conclude the tournament.

KITTANNING 37

Joey McCanna 2-7 0-1 5, Noah Pang 5-11 1-2 13, Tanner Witenski 0-4 2-2 2, Zane Dudek 4-5 5-10 13, Logan Slagle 0-1 2-2 2, James Webb 0-3 0-2 0, Nathan Falchetti 1-3 0-0 2, Zach Young 0-1 0-0 0, Brenton Pless 0-1 0-0 0, Tyler Fries 0-0 0-0 0, Derek Grafton 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 12-36 10-19 37.

KNOCH 62

Aiden Albert 3-9 0-0 7, Troy Hixson 0-0 0-0 0, Matt Zanella 7-10 0-0 14, Mac Christy 2-5 0-0 4, Austin Hannes 5-10 1-1 11, Jackson McKee 2-5 0-0 4, PJ Gourley 4-5 5-7 13, Devin Campbell 3-9 1-2 9, Josh Knochel 0-0 0-0 0, Josh Campbell 0-0 0-0 0, Ben Lucas 0-0 0-0 0, Ben McMillen 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 26-53 7-10 62.

Kittanning 6 9 16 6 — 37

Knoch13 15 19 15 — 62

3-point goals: Kittanning 3 (Spang 2, McCanna); Knoch 3 (Albert, D. Campbell 2)

Saturday: Knoch vs. Avonworth at the Freeport Tournament, 5 p.m.