Times Observer photo by Steve Younger Eisenhower’s Kris Bunk, right, puts up a shot over Fort LeBoeuf’s Ronan Dorler during Saturday’s nonregion game in Russell.

RUSSELL — The Eisenhower Knights extended their winning streak to four games as they defeated Class 4A Fort LeBoeuf 62-57 on Saturday night.

Eisenhower, a Class 1A school, was not intimidated at all by the larger opponent as the Knights used a balanced scoring attack, with four of their five starters in double figures once again.

Eisenhower’s Casey Seymour converted a turnover into points as he connected on an easy layup to score the first points of the game and the next trip down the court saw the Knights’ 6-foot-4 sophomore Gavin Lindemuth drain a 3-pointer from deep in the corner. The aggressive Knights defense and some cold shooting by the visiting Bisons helped Eisenhower open up a 22-14 lead at the end of the opening quarter.

The Bisons came out in the second quarter and began to press the Knights. It worked in their favor as it limited the Knights’ shot attempts. The visitors held Eisenhower to just 10 points in the quarter, which allowed the Bisons to close the gap to 32-28 at the half.

“I thought that our guards handled their pressure well,” Eisenhower head coach Ryan Mangini said. “Those guys never got rattled, they settled things down for us and set a good pace for us.”

The third quarter saw the Bisons take their first lead in the game on a Dom Russo 3-pointer that put the visitors up 39-37. The lead was short-lived as Gavin Lindemuth and Austin Hanson both made free throws to get the lead back. The Knights’ Kris Bunk and Lindemuth both sank shots to give the lead back to the Knights. Eisenhower would extend its lead to 46-39 at the end of the third quarter.

The Bisons began to chip away as they went on a 10-5 run to narrow the lead to 51-49 with 5:10 remaining in the game. The score would go back and forth until the Bisons’ Russo hit another 3-pointer to tie the game at 54-54 with 2:09 remaining.

The Bisons decided to foul the Knights and take their chances from the free-throw line, but the Knights made them pay. Freshman Austin Hanson was 6 for 7 from the line down the stretch with none bigger than the two he made with 6.7 seconds left to give his team some breathing room at 62-57.

“We’ve talked as a team about consistency and in order to be a good team they have to play with it,” Mangini said. “These guys are playing very consistent basketball right now, and to do it on back-to-back nights says a lot about them. I thought Maysen Wonderling had another solid game defensively, and Bunk going 8 for 9 from the line in the game was huge. Tonight was just another total team win. It was nice to see as we begin region play this week.”

Russo was Fort LeBoeuf’s high scorer with 17 points. Bunk and Kyler Black led the Knights with 15 points apiece.

Eisenhower is back in action Wednesday as cross-county rival Sheffield travels to Russell. JV tip-off is set for 6 p.m. with the varsity game immediately following.

FORT LEBOEUF (57)

Villa 3 2 9, Irving 0 1 1, Russo 5 2 17, Papay 3 0 7, Miller 0 0 0, Imler 3 0 7, Dorler 6 0 12, Friedman 2 0 4. Totals 22 5 57.

EISENHOWER (62)

Black 5 4 15, Wonderling 0 0 0, Bunk 3 9 15, Seymour 3 0 6, Hanson 4 5 14, Guiher 0 0 0, Lindemuth 3 5 12. Totals 18 23 62.

3-point goals–Villa, Russo 5, Papay, Imler, Black, Hanson, Lindemuth.

Fort LeBoeuf 14 14 11 18 — 57

Eisenhower 22 10 14 16 — 62