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Lyle-Pacelli’s Marshall Burma lets a baseline three-pointer fly against Grand Meadow in Pacelli Gym Thursday. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com

Lyle-Pacelli’s Dylan Christianson posts up against Grand Meadow’s Malachi Young in Pacelli Gym Thursday. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com

Grand Meadow’s Carter Glynn is swarmed by the Lyle-Pacelli defense in the first half of the Athletics’ 74-32 win over the Superlarks in Pacelli Gym Thursday night. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com

Grand Meadow’s Graham Eastlee posts up against Lyle-Pacelli’s Landon Meyer. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com

Lyle-Pacelli’s Leland Hicks controls the ball. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com

Lyle-Pacelli’s Isaac Nelsen posts up against Grand Meadow’s Logan Grafe and Tyler Reid (23). Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com

The lights were a little bit brighter for the majority of the Lyle-Pacelli boys basketball team as many Athletics played their first ever major varsity minutes in a season opening 74-32 win over Grand Meadow in Pacelli Gym Thursday.

The Athletics opened the game on a 13-3 run, but GM crept to within 25-20 after a score by sophomore Carter Glynn, who finished with 18 points and seven rebounds. L-P would respond in a huge way as the Athletics put together a 19-3 burst that saw them take a 47-23 lead on a Marshall Burma three-pointer with 14:32 remaining in the game.

Burma, a senior, scored 18 points off of six three-pointers made and he was one of several L-P players to notch a career-high in points in the win.

“We see it in practice from Marshall every day,” said L-P senior Chase Bauer, who finished with 17 points, six rebounds, three assists and six steals. “He works on that shot all of the time.”

Bauer is one of seven siblings and he lies in the middle of the family order. He’s already seen two of his older brothers play for L-P and now he’s relishing his time to get on the varsity level.

“It’s so much fun to be out there. It’s a crazy confidence booster for us,” Bauer said. “We came into this game with almost no varsity minutes.”

L-P senior Andre Frederick gave the team some consistent play in his first start as he tallied six points, nine rebounds, three assists and three steals. He led an energetic attack from L-P that came out in full speed from the opening tip.

“We’ve been looking forward to this for a long time and it was awesome being out there,” Frederick said. “The energy in the gym was electric, so it’s easy to just take that energy and play with it. We’ve also got to know when we’re out of control and slow it down.”

The Athletics are coming off of their best season in co-op history, but many of the key players from that squad are gone. L-P head coach Carl Truckenmiller said Thursday’s game was a good sign for a team that features mostly JV players from last season.

“We played a lot of basketball in the summer to get ready for this,” Truckenmiller said. “We got a little bit crazy and I think we shot 40 threes, but in the end we won by 40. This is a different group, but I think we’ll be alright.”

Dylan Christianson added 12 points and seven rebounds for L-P.

Grand Meadow 23  9    –  32

Lyle-Pacelli 36  38  –  74

L-P scoring: Chase Bauer, 19; Marshall Burma, 18; Dylan Christianson, 12; Landon Meyer, 8; Jacob Nelsen, 8; Andrew Frederick, 6; Leland Hicks, 3; Joseph Schulte, 2

GM scoring: Carter Glynn, 18; Graham Eastlee, 4; Cohen Kraft, 3; Tyler Reid, 3; Logan Grafe, 1; Sawyer Hanenberger, 1; Logan Bachman, 1; Malachi Young, 1