The No. 2 ranked Austin boys basketball followed up two of its biggest wins of the season with its first loss of the season. The Packers trailed throughout most of the second half as they lost to Owatonna 81-72 in Packer Gym Tuesday.

Austin (12-1 overall, 9-1 Big Nine) was finishing a stretch that saw it play four straight competitive games against teams in the top half of the Big Nine.

“I thought this was one of those cases where one team wanted to win the game more than the other one,” Austin head coach Kris Fadness said. “I think there’s no doubt there was a letdown tonight, but we were playing a really good team. Owatonna’s good. We’ve sort of faced a gauntlet here and we, for whatever reason, didn’t have it tonight.”

The Huskies jumped out to a 14-5 lead to start the game, but the Packers took a brief 33-29 lead when Duoth Gach, who had 19 points and three rebounds, scored on a put-back late in the first half, but Owatonna opened the second half on a an 11-4 spurt and it led the rest of the way.

Austin had a chance to close the gap late as it had the ball down 68-61 with 55 seconds left, but Gach missed a three-pointer and Moses Issa, who had 11 points and five rebounds, missed a free throw.

The Packers finished 5-for-29 on threes and they forced just 13 turnovers.

“They contested our stuff around the basket and we didn’t shoot it well,” Fadness said. “I’m not sure a lot of our shots were good shots and they took advantage of our mistakes. We had a tough time turning them over and we’ve got to get better on our half court offense.”

Nyagoa Obany had six points, seven rebounds and three assists for the Packers.

Austin will look to regroup as it finishes the first of half its Big Nine schedule at Rochester Mayo Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

Owatonna 34  47  —  81

Austin 35  37  —  72

Austin scoring: Duoth Each, 19; Moses Issa, 11; Ngor Deng, 8; Dongrin Deng, 8; Nyagoa Obany, 6; Tate Hebrink, 5; Medi Obang, 3; Agwa Obang, 2; free throws: 73 percent (11-for-15); turnovers: 10