Despite leading at halftime, the Tigers still came up short.

Mankato West (4-3 overall and in the Big Nine Conference) defeated the Albert Lea boys’ basketball team (0-8 overall, 0-7 Big Nine) 74-56 Thursday at Albert Lea High School.

The Tigers led the Scarlets 35-34 at the end of the first half.

“We had a really good first half,” said Albert Lea coach Stan Thompson.

Senior guard Jake Thompson led the Tigers offensively with 19 points, while senior forward Jake Kilby contributed 12 points and junior forward Jack Buendorf added nine points. Senior forward Nate Nelson tacked on nine rebounds for Albert Lea, as well.

Thompson emphasized that his team hasn’t had much of a break between games, as Thursday’s loss was the Tigers’ fifth game in 10 days. While he said his players will now focus on playing strong defense from start to finish, he still felt the team played hard throughout the entirety of Thursday’s game.

“I was proud of them, and I think they played their hearts out again,” he said. “It was a good showing for as much as they’ve had to go through. … We gave what we could.”

Next, Albert Lea will host Mankato East (5-3 overall, 4-2 Big Nine) at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. The Cougars are coming off of a 82-79 win over Northfield on Tuesday, and will play Hutchinson on Friday before playing the Tigers.