Slowly but surely, the Blooming Prairie boys basketball team is coming along.

After scoring 23 points in its season opener, BP (0-2 overall) showed some signs of improvement in a 49-41 loss at Montgomery/Lonsdale (1-1 overall) Thursday.

BP junior Gabe Kartes, one of BP’s many players without a lot of varsity experience, put up a career-high 18 points in the loss.

“Offensively we’re struggling and we’re trying to learn on the fly,” BP head coach John Bruns said. “We’re picking it up slowly and it’s a process. We’ve already gotten better from the first half of our first game to the second half of tonight’s game and that’s encouraging.”

BP got within two late but it never took the lead.

BP scoring: Kartes, 18; Cooper Nelson, 8; Luc Zellmer, 6; Michael Thomas, 3; Isaac Clark, 2; Tom Fogarty, 2; Luke Hueman, 2