Lyle/Pacelli had more trouble converting in the open court than in breaking Houston's full-court zone press, and the host Hurricanes eventually took advantage of L/P's missed opportunities.

Houston led by just two after the first quarter but cashed in when Lyle/Pacelli did not in the second period, pulling out a 65-43 Southeast Conference victory Thursday night in Houston.

Brian Edmiston led all players with 21 points, taking advantage of L/P's lack of height in the middle. An already shorter Lyle/Pacelli squad also had to play without one of its top scorers in Joey Greibrok, who did not play due to an illness.

Still Lyle/Pacelli managed to outrebound the Hurricanes 33-28 in the loss.

"It's nice when we get the kids to compete," said L/P coach Gary Erlandson, "just the fact that we sometimes compete against adversities such as height tonight.

"We battled them on the boards even though man-for-man they're bigger than us."

Lyle/Pacelli (1-11, 1-5) was led in scoring by Chris Bergstrom, who recorded a career-high 14 points in a losing cause. Bergstrom hit five field goals in the first quarter for 10 of his 14.

Nick Ehret chipped in with nine points, seven rebounds and the team's only three-pointer. Mark Van Winter pulled down eight rebounds to lead L/P in that category, and Alex Schilling added seven boards.

"We've proven that we're capable of doing battle against some good teams," Erlandson said. "But after beating a good Lanesboro team two games ago we turn right around and come out with this result, which doesn't make any sense."

Lyle/Pacelli could not make up for a 20-9 second-quarter scoring advantage for the host Hurricanes, ballooning Houston's halftime lead to 13.

"We had a good start," Erlandson said. "Hopefully we see the need to perform at our best all the time."

Lyle/Pacelli hosts Alden-Conger Friday night in Lyle at 7:30 p.m., and Grand Meadow comes to town for an SEC game Tuesday.

L/P fell to Alden-Conger 54-51 in the second round of consolation play at the Rebel Classic tournament in Southland back in mid-December. The team would like to see to it that does not happen again.

"That was a game that we should have won, but we let it get away from us at the end," Erlandson added.

Boxscore:

LYLE/PACELLI (43) -- Alex Halbach 3, Nels Nelson 4, Alex Schilling 2, Kellen Blaser 2, Nick Ehret 9, David Judd 1, Mark Van Winter 6, Chris Bergstrom 14, Jake Kaput 2.

HOUSTON (65) -- John Botcher 13, Craig Nelson 3, Trevor Carrier 4, Tony Brostrom 5, Dale Moga 5, Scott Wiste 2, Chris Carlson 6, Bryan Edmiston 21, John Carrier 2, Eric Jerviss 4.

Lyle/Pacelli149812--43

Houston16201019--65

Three-pointers--L/P 1 (Ehret); Houston 4 (Carlson 2, T.Carrier, Brostrom).

Free-throws--L/P 8/13; Houston 8-19.