The Packers boys basketball team had a little trouble figuring out how to attack Winona’s zone defense and it cost them in a 65-46 loss to the Winhawks in Packer Gym Friday.

Austin (1-3 overall, 1-1 Big Nine) had 15 first half turnovers as it fell behind 29-19 by halftime and it couldn’t make up that difference in the second half, where the Packers had just eight turnovers.

“Their two-three zone gave us fits and we couldn’t simulate it in practice,” Austin head coach Kris Fadness said. “We always want teams to throw it around against our zone and that’s what we were doing against them in the first half. You’ve got to go through the zone by getting it to the high post and penetrating gaps. We were wasting dribbles and circling around the perimeter.”

Austin made the adjustment at the break, but Fadness said he would’ve liked to have done it sooner. Austin was as close as 56-46 with 2:17 left in the game after a three by Matt Duren, but Winona (2-0 overall) closed it out strong.

The Winhawks made their big move at the end of the half after Zach Wessels scored to pull Austin to within 24-19 with 1:12 left in the first frame.

Winona’s Hunter Gamoke, who scored 13 of his 20 points in the first half, drilled a baseline three with 18 seconds left and Winona forced an Austin turnover that led to a lay-up by Gamoke right before the buzzer sounded.

“I thought we showed our age tonight at times,” Fadness said. “We’ve got inexperienced seniors and young kids and I probably should’ve made the adjustments early. We didn’t get regrouped against that zone until halftime. I thought we played a decent second half, but when you’re trying to catch up you give up some bunnies.”

Winona scored the first five points of the second half and the Packers never got within 10 the rest of the way. Mike Blacklock put an exclamation point on the night when he threw a two-handed dunk off an alley-oop that Divontay Pinkerton threw off the glass on a fast break. That score made it 43-29 Winhawks with 9:32 left in the game.

“He’s just a good athlete. He’s strong and he’s quick off his feet,” Fadness said of Blacklock, who finished with 17 points, nine rebounds and six steals.

Joe Aase led the Packers with 15 points and Tom Aase had eight points and six assists, while Duren had 12 points and four steals.

Winona 29 36 — 65

Austin 19 27 — 46

Austin scoring: Joe Aase, 15; Matt Duren, 12; Tom Aase, 8; Zach Wessels, 6; Zach Fadness, 5; field goals: 42.1 percent (16-for-38); three-pointers: 28.6 percent (4-for-14); free throws: 71.4 percent (10-for-14); rebounds: 15 (Wessels, 4); turnovers: 23

Winona scoring: Hunter Gamoke, 20; Mark Blacklock, 17; Lance Jensen, 10; Anthony Inman, 9; Zach Benson, 4; Martin Fedderson, 3; Divontay Pinkerton, 2; field goals: 62.9 percent (22-for-35); three-pointers: 75 percent (6-for-8); free throws: 57.7 percent (15-for-26); rebounds: 27 (Blacklock, 9); turnovers: 21