Lyle/Pacelli head coach Gary Erlandson figured it would be a tough task trying to upend undefeated LeRoy-Ostrander Tuesday night.

He was right.

The Cardinals, led by Dustin Thorson's 12 first-quarter points, rolled past Lyle/Pacelli 75-43.

LeRoy-Ostrander (8-0, 4-0) started out slow, but ended the first quarter on an 11-0 run.

Cardinal head coach Russ Foster alluded that the previous night's game against Elgin-Millville may have contributed to the slow start, along with senior Chad Orum scoring just two points in the first period.

But Foster said he was pleased the team is not solely relying on feeding the ball to Orum, who finished with 17 points.

"He might have been a little wore out from last night, but other people were picking it up," Foster said. "Chad's a very unselfish player."

Foster said he was pleased with Thorson's performance.

"What Dustin is starting to learn is he needs to make cuts to the basket," said Foster of Thorson's game-high 22 points. "People have got to go places and get open and get shots. That's the key."

Erlandson said his team's performance involved "too many valleys and not enough peaks." Of course, he knew his team (0-9, 0-4) had its work cut out for it.

"We were playing against a very good ball team," Erlandson said. "There were some sections in there where we made some good runs and played good defense. We found out tonight when a person has their chance on the floor, they can make a good contribution."

Mark Van Winter finished with a team-high 13 points, followed by Nels Nelson's 11.

"Nels had an excellent ballgame," Erlandson said. "I was very happy with what Nels did tonight."

LeRoy-Ostrander will face on Friday what Foster said is his team's toughest game of the year at home against Houston, another undefeated Southeast Conference team.

"They've got a good basketball team," Foster said. "They're big. You want to take care of business on your home floor."

Boxscore:

L-O681415--43

L/P19231617--75

LEROY-OSTRANDER (75) -- Brett Mensink 2, Andrew Knight 13, Kirk Olson 3, Nate Miller 4, Ben Adams 3, Chris Newton 3, Cody Eastvold 6, Tom Reburn 2, Dustin Thorson 22, Chad Orum 17.

LYLE/PACELLI (43) -- Alex Halbach 3, Nels Nelson 13, Alex Schilling 6, Nick Ehret 2, Joey Greibrok 4, Mark Van Winter 13, Chris Schmidt 2.