Photo by Chris Drummond Red Rock Central Falcon Ashton Juhnke (3) gets an offensive rebound and goes up for a shot against two Cedar Mountain Cougar defenders in Thursday’s 64-51 loss at Lakeview’s Holiday Classic.

COTTONWOOD — The Red Rock Central Falcons boys basketball team was defeated by the Cedar Mountain cougars 64-51 on day one of the 2022 Northstar Classic on Thursday evening.

The Falcons came out and turned over the ball consistently because of the Cougars’ press. The Falcons also had a size advantage but the Cougars mitigated that with their efficient passing on the offensive end and scoring from the mid-range.

The Falcons’ defense also left a lot to be desired in the first half. They let the Cougars drive through their zone defense and get uncontested shots up. The Cougars held a 38-24 lead at halftime and grew the lead as much as 18 in the opening half.

In the second half, the Falcons came out on fire and started the half on a 17-6 run, cutting the deficit to three. Ashton Juhnke and Isaac Simonson we’re leading the way both scoring eight points in the run.

However, it would be the closest the Falcons would get. The Cougars closed out the game on an 18-10 run and won going away 64-51.

“Our guys made the adjustments, we just didn’t do it in the first half,” Falcons head coach Colby Pack said. “We let their quick guard play dictate the first half which caused us to make sloppy turnovers.”

“We talked about at halftime getting the ball into the post and not dribbling, just going up with it. We started to do that and we saw an 18 points lead get down to a three-point lead. There is a lot of positive we can take from this. We will grow and learn from this.”

The RRC Falcons are next in action on Tuesday when they will travel to Renville to face off against the Renville County West Jaguars.

The first tip is at 7:30 p.m.