Highland's boys basketball team is speaking volumes with its steady play as the season's first month is almost history. 

A team with not much size yet an excess of go get it managed to outlast Perry in four overtimes at home Thursday night, 62-61, before a sizeable crowd, many of them students with more finals to take Friday morning.

Highland is 9-3, 6-2 in power-ranking games. Last year the Hawks were  8-18 mark. They've done the work thus far with a few holdovers from last year and an infusion of untested varsity players. Perry fell to 8-3, 5-2 prg, but battled equally well as their hosts from start to finish. Neither team led by more than six in the game.

"It's been a different guy every night," Highland coach Todd Fazio said, referring to its three biggest wins thus far over defending 5A champ Perry, 6A contender Skyline earlier this week and  now Perry. "We're plugging along trying to get better every game."

The "guy" Thursday was guard Mason Knollmiller, a slight 6-foot, 145-pound sophomore. Knollmiller paced Highland with 18 points and scored four points from the free-throw line in the fourth overtime. The last two free throws put the Hawks up 62-58 with 1.3 seconds left. They needed them as Perry's Dylan Anderson banked in an uncontested three from 30 foot at the buzzer.

Knollmiller and several of Highland's players are aggressive and determined to take the ball to the basket. As thin as Knollmiller is, he can fit through the slightest opening and get off a shot or dish. 

"We call him Pac-Man," Fazio said. 'He only knows going in a straight line."

Perry, which took the game to overtime on a basket by 6-10 junior center Duke Brennan (team-high 18 points) with 2.1 seconds left, scored first in the fourth overtime for a 56-54 edge on a layup by reserve forward Nathan Wold (12 points) off a nice assist by Chris Tucker (17 points).

Knollmiller immediately answered drawing a foul on a drive to the hoop and making both ends of a 1-and-1. Wold missed a three on Perry's next possession and Highland's answer was finding its most recent hero, guard AJ Riggs, open a for a three which he drained to put the Hawks up for good, 59-56. Riggs was fresh off a 31-point night on Tuesday and a 66-58 win over Skyline. Riggs made nine threes in that game - 7 of 7 in the second half. Riggs finished with 10 points in this one.

A layup by Wold with 1:48 pulled Perry back within 59-58. Highland's Kyle Kempton made it 60-58 making one of two free throws. The second was the miss and Perry rebounded. The Pumas  ran time off the clock, called time and started the process of a final shot with 26 seconds left. Tucker penetrated the lane, but his shot was knocked away. Highland got the ball and in the scramble Knollmiller was fouled and iced the game with two tosses.

"We had a bad start to the second half, but we kept at it and got it overtime," Perry coach Sammy Duane Jr. said. "They aren't big, but they are a hard matchup for us with the size we have. We've got to execute better. We had our moments, but we need to get better."

Both teams are back in action Friday for their third game in four days with Perry traveling to Westview and Highland  trying to avenge a region loss at Desert Ridge.