Second-half collapse leads to Lourdes defeat

The Kasson-Mantorville boys basketball team is searching for a way to find consistency during the early part of the season. While they’ve been able to show signs of being a team that could put it together and pick up some victories, they haven’t been able to find a way to maintain that level of play for 36 minutes.
That story played out again last Tuesday night when the KoMets played tough with Rochester Lourdes in the first half but fell apart in the second in a 75-51 defeat to their HVL rivals.
“Lourdes increased their ball pressure in the second half and we struggled to protect the rim and find open players,” Pederson said of the performance. “We rebounded well in the first half, but we couldn’t continue that into the second half.”
The first half played out well with the KoMets as they went back and forth with the Eagles. Senior Brendan Knoll had a nice game organizing the offense and leading the team with 17 points with six rebounds and K-M played aggressively until a late Lourdes run put them in a 38-32 hole going into the half.
The second half was a different story as the Eagles used their size advantage to protect the rim and limit second chances. 35 of the 45 Lourdes rebounds were on the defensive end and the KoMets were outrebounded by a 45-24 margin for the game. Lourdes was able to take advantage of their extra chances in the second half to outscore K-M 37-19 to set up the final 24-point margin of victory.
“We need to keep improving on our defense,” Pederson observed after the game. “We need to improve in the area