The Union Knights tipped off the 2012-13 basketball season with a fourth-quarter comeback that eventualy led to a dramatic win in overtime against Aplington-Parkersburg last Friday evening.

The Union boys were down 31-26 heading into the fouth quarter, but forced an overtime period and outscored A-P 16-10 in the overtime to seal the victory.

Jay Scheel scored 19 points – an astonishing 12 of which came from the foul line – in the Knights’ 52-46 win. Scheel also snagged four rebounds, tallied four assits and had a game-high six steals in the season opener.

The Knights, who look to be competitive in the North Iowa Cedar League-East this year, start three other seniors and a junior, giving them an experienced group.

Mitch Dierks had nine points and four boards, and Trev Hadachek also had five rebounds. Junior Bo Bader had eight points and four boards.

Brian Dunkelberger led the Knights with six rebounds in the game, and also had two steals and a block. Tanner Heckt led the team with two blocks.

The Knights will now look to get off to a fast 2-0 start against Dike-New Hartford with a home contest this Friday at 7:45 p.m. in La Porte City before heading on the road for the three-game swing beginning on Saturday at Benton.

While the boys have had just one regular season game thus far, the Union Knights girls’ basketball team has played three games in the span of four days, dropping consecutive contests to Waverly-Shell Rock and Aplington-Parkersburg before beating New Hampton at home on Saturday.

In their 42-58 loss at the hands of W-SR, Sam Barz led the team with 20 points and also grabbed six rebounds. Breann Bader scored 10 and Natalie Hanson led the team with six rebounds.

The girls were much more competitive in their second outing, falling 37-38 to A-P after a disappointing fourth-quarter performance in which they were outscored by seven points as a team.

Bader had 11 points, as did junior Tessa Reiter, who also grabbed four rebounds. Barz led the team with nine boards, as Payton Hilton used her size advantage to record eight rebounds.

The girls’ first win of the season came the following day, as they easily dispatched New Hampton 43-34.

Barz once again led the team with 14 points, recording a double-double with 11 rebounds. Hilton had a team-high 12 rebounds to go along with her eight points.

Bader had 10 points and five boards, and Reiter had a team-high three steals.

The girls will now look to build on that momentum as they host Dike-New Hartford at 6:15 p.m. this Friday before a three-game road trip.