Photo by Jake McNeill: Tracy-Milroy-Balaton’s Parker Kline (13) makes a pass during a prep boys basketball game against Jackson County Central on Wednesday at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall.

MARSHALL — Despite a strong start, the Tracy-Milroy-Balaton boys basketball team didn’t have the firepower to match up with Jackson County Central at the Marshall Holiday Tournament at Southwest Minnesota State University on Wednesday afternoon. The Huskies pulled away with a run of 28 unanswered points over the course of nine minutes and handed the Panthers an 78-42 loss.

TMB kept the game neck-and-neck for the first eight minutes before JCC surged ahead.

With the game tied at 19-all, Weston Lowe got the go-ahead basket for the Huskies to spark a 21-0 run over the final six-and-a-half minutes of the half. The burst of energy sent the Huskies into the locker room with a 40-19 lead.

Turnovers consistently cost the Panthers over the course of the half-ending scoring drought. The Huskies’ twin towers of 6-foot-10 Sullivan Hall and 6-foot-7 Weston Rowe forced TMB into uncomfortable situations, whether it was blocked shots or tipped passes. TMB, meanwhile, had no players taller than 6-foot-3 with most of its starting lineup standing below 6-foot.

“Always try to zone up and take away those two guys inside, and I think we did a pretty good job of that,” TMB head coach Ryan Kruse said. “Later on, they were able to get some easy 2s, easy 3s, probably too easy of 3s, and that we’ve got to do a better job of. But they’re just a tough, tough team to guard with our size.

JCC’s run continued into the second half with 5 points from Foster and another pair from Blaise Rowe, bringing the score to 48-19.

Jackson Kruse finally ended the drought two-and-a-half minutes into the second half when, trailing a teammate on the fast break, he grabbed the rebound from a smoked layup and banked in the shot. Emery Xiong followed up with a corner 3, cutting the gap to 48-24, but Hall responded with a dunk on the other end to reclaim any lost momentum.

JCC’s transition to zone defense was a big part of why TMB struggled offensively over the course of its drought, coach Kruse said, adding that he felt it was a defense he thought his team was ready for but JCC did a good job of getting its hands on passes.

“We just didn’t pass the ball or move the ball well and gave them easy transition baskets,” coach Kruse said. “We did get a few good shots, I thought we just didn’t make them, so we’ll just have to work on zone a little bit more.”

Griffin Zick finished the night as TMB’s leading scorer with 17 points on 4 of 20 shooting from the field with three 3-pointers. He also knocked down six of his eight attempts from the free-throw line. Jackson Kruse and Xiong chipped in eight and seven points, respectively, with Xiong also dishing out a team-high three assists.

Long-range shooting gave the Panthers’ offense an early spark. Zick and Xiong hit back-to-back 3s on TMB’s first pair of possessions to stake a 6-2 lead.

Ben Gallagher answered for JCC with a 3 of his own and Weston Rowe got a paint bucket to give JCC the lead before Sy Sanders tied the game at 7-all with a free throw.

Mason Foster and Zick exchanged 3s to keep the game tied, and a pair of Zick free throws and an Eli Lightfoot post hook gave the Panthers a 4-point cushion. Jackson Kruse then answered a JCC 3 with a basket off a feed from Sy Sanders to make the score 16-13 when JCC called a timeout seven minutes into the game.

“I couldn’t be more happy with how we started that first 10 minutes,” coach Kruse said. “We played tough on defense, rebounded and were able to move the ball on offense and get good shots, just a great start. After that, we weren’t very good on offense and when they went to zone, our energy level kind of dropped.”

TMB and JCC traded leads over the next few possessions before an Aiden Sanow free throw tied up the score at 19-19, but that was the last time the Panthers found the bottom of the net in the half.

TMB falls to 5-3 on the season and next competes on Saturday when it takes on Sioux Valley (S.D.) in Madison at 7 p.m.