The St. Albert boys basketball team won its season opener over Logan-Magnolia on Thursday night 54-48 in Council Bluffs.
“It’s great to get the first win for sure,” Peterson said. “We’re not going to take this win for granted. We got some guys who just need some varsity minutes but will get better. We didn’t shoot the ball very well, but I mostly attribute that to some nerves and first-game jitters. Other than Colin (Lillie) we got a lot of guys who never and had very little experience at the varsity level play tonight.”
The Panthers and Falcons went neck and neck through the first quarter and finished a very low scoring first half at 15-11 in favor of the Falcons.
A 10-2 run to start the third quarter helped the Falcons create some brief separation, but the Panthers immediately responded with a 9-0 run to get back within three points 25-22 midway through the third quarter.
People are also reading…
The Panthers would make it just a one-point ball game by the end of the third quarter but a late 9-2 run for the Falcons put the game away and earned St. Albert its first win of the season after an intense fourth quarter.
“We came out in the second half and made some good runs,” Peterson said. “I thought we handled their runs very well, but in the end, we held on and got the win. I’m really proud of how these guys hung in there and came out with this win.”
Three Falcons scored double digits in the win. Leading the way was junior Luke Wettengel with 13 points, following right behind him was freshman Nick Ballenger with 12 points, and senior Colin Lillie had 11 points.
St. Albert will play again on Friday to open Hawkeye 10 Conference play against Clarinda at 7:30 p.m.
Logan-Magnolia (0-2) 7 4 17 20 – 48
St. Albert (1-0) 8 7 14 25 – 54
