The New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva boys’ basketball team suffered its first loss of the season Thursday against St. Croix Lutheran 88-65 at the Bethany Lutheran College Holiday Tournament.

The Panthers trailed by 20 points in the first half but were able to whittle their deficit down to 12 points at halftime.

However, the Crusaders began the second half with an 8-0 run, and NRHEG couldn’t recover, said Panthers head coach Pat Churchill.

“It’s tough to get beat like that, but we need to rebound quickly and play again,” he said.

Three Panthers scored in double figures. Trevor Tracy scored a team-high 18 points, Spencer Tollefson scored 16 and Oakley Baker added 14.

The Crusaders had five players in double figures. Agge Rovney and Trenton Krueger tied with a game-high 20 points.

NRHEG (6-1 overall, 3-0 Gopher Conference) will play its second round game against Maple River (3-5 overall, 1-2 Gopher Conference) at 8 p.m. today.

The two teams met last Friday and the Panthers won 65-56.

Statistics are in the Scoreboard: Dec. 26 post.