ADAMS — The Rebels boys basketball team couldn’t find an answer to Kingsland’s size in a 69-60 loss in Adams Monday that snapped a five-game Southland winning streak.

Kingsland’s Tyler Himile, a 6-foot, 5-inch center, had his way on both ends of the floor as he finished with 24 points, 13 rebounds, and six blocked shots.

“It’s tough to guard a guy that’s that big who can move well and he gave us problems all night long,” Southland head coach Jon Thalberg said. “Clint Bergene, Connor Mielke and Josh Jax worked hard in the middle. The problem was our pressure defense on the outside wasn’t there and they could throw the ball wherever they wanted to.”

Southland (5-5 overall, 3-4 Three Rivers) opened the first half strong as Zach Heimer finished a 6-0 run by getting a steal and a score to put his team up 35-34 with 14:20 left in the game. Kingsland responded by scoring the next four and they led the rest of the night.

The Rebels’ defense opened the game on a strong note as they forced four early turnovers to jump out to a 13-4 lead after Mike Goergen converted a three-point lay inside. But Kingsland figured out Southland’s full court pressure for the rest of the first half as they had just five turnovers in the last 12 minutes of the frame. The Knights rallied to take a 29-27 lead to the break.

Himile’s defense made it tough on the Rebels inside and the Southland couldn’t find it’s outside shot until the last couple of minutes of the game.

“We’ve struggled at times this year with our outside shot,” Thalberg said. “If we could have hit a couple of those earlier in the game it would’ve helped immensely.”

Chris May had 12 points, five steals and six steals for Southland and Alan May had 14 points, five rebounds and three assists.

Joey Strike, a 6-1 Kingsland guard, had 16 points and six rebounds.

While his team suffered a loss, Thalberg was glad his team was able to face-off against a squad with some size.

“It’s good for us to see big guys like that, because come playoff time we’ll see guys like that,” he said.

Kingsland 29 40 — 69

Southland 27 33 — 60

Southland scoring: Alan May, 14; Chris May, 12; Mike Goergen, 10; Zach Heimer, 6; Clint Bergene, 6; Connor Mielke, 4; Nick Schmitz, 3; Sam Noterman, 3; Henry Mullenbach, 2; free throws: 59 percent (13-for-22); rebounds: 32 (Alan May, 6); turnovers: 23

Kingsland scoring: Tyler Himile, 24; Joey Strike, 16; Mitchell Tart, 8; Justin Buchholtz, 6; Mitchell Plaehn, 6; Andrew McGill, 3; Gabe Kohn, 2; Nate Vorwek, 2; Anthony Landwehr, 2; free throws: 55 percent (17-for-31); rebounds: 34 (Himile, 13); turnovers: 20