The NRHEG boys’ basketball had its biggest game of the year Tuesday night against Waseca.

In the second half, Waseca turned up its defense a notch higher than NRHEG could handle and the Bluejays escaped with a 65-49 victory to hand the Panthers their first loss of the season.

“After a slow start to the game, I thought we found some rhythm  with (Oakley Baker) hitting some key shots,” NRHEG coach Pat Churchill said. “We played really well for most of the first half, but we let (Waseca) close the half on a 4-0 run.”

Instead of leading by nine, the Panthers were only up five.

NRHEG turned the ball over too much and couldn’t get its offense going in the second half. Waseca’s Malik Willingham scored 22 points in the win.

NRHEG was led by Baker’s 20 and Benji Lundberg added 16 points. Tyler Raimann had 11.

NRHEG is 17-1 on the season and will host Triton on Thursday.