Simley’s full-court press forced 25 turnovers and stifled the Albert Lea boys’ basketball team Thursday as the Tigers got blasted 67-34 at Albert Lea High School.

Albert Lea (1-2, 0-1 Big Nine) trailed by four at halftime, but the Tigers unraveled in the second half as the mistakes compounded upon each other.

Simley’s full-court press made Albert Lea uncomfortable in the second half and limited the Tigers to 17 points while the Spartans rattled off 46.

But the press wasn’t the lone reason why the Tigers lost, said Albert Lea head coach Lucas Kreuscher.

“The guys were not ready to play the game,” Kreuscher said. “They weren’t ready at halftime. They had absolutely no energy tonight.”

Despite Kreuscher saying his team had no energy, the Tigers found themselves trailing 21-17 at halftime.

As the second half started Albert Lea began turning the ball over and the Spartans started to find their rhythm on offense.

Andrew Ewing hit four second half 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 16 points. Shinoby Yang scored 15 and Stefan Domeier added 13.

“It wasn’t what they did to us why we lost,” Kreuscher said. “We did it to ourselves.”

Errant passes and quick shots hurt Albert Lea in the second half and the Tigers strayed from their game plan of working the ball down low to the post.

The loss followed a disappointing effort against Mayo Saturday where Albert Lea committed 27 turnovers in a 21-point loss.

Simley 67, Albert Lea 34

Simley 21 46 — 67

Albert Lea 17 17 — 34

Simley scoring: Andrew Ewing 16, Shinoby Yang 15, Stefan Domeier 13, Jovan Carey 6, Lamon Hoyt 4, Eric Kropp 4, Jordan Lange 4, Kile Krech 2, Derek Harden 2.

Albert Lea scoring: Taylor Bordelon 6, Silas Randall 6, Tyler Wichmann 5, Alik Smed 4, Aaron Klatt 3, Kyle Ooms 3, Colby Strilaeff 3, Damian Montes 2, Clayton Bratten 2.