Austin Packer boys’ basketball downs Rochester John Marshall Tuesday night 57-51

The Austin Packers boys’ basketball team was in Rochester Tuesday night for a Big 9 Conference tilt with the John Marshall Rockets, and Moses Idris tallied 15 points and Teyghan Hovland added 13, including the first seven points of the game for the Packers in a 57-51 win.

Pierre Lilly, who scored four points assisted on Hovland’s first two baskets, the second one for three to put the Packers out front early by the score of 5-2.  He then drained a baseline jumper to increase Austin’s lead to 7-2, and Hovland then found Lero Oman, who swished a three-pointer to give Austin a 10-5 lead.  The Rockets countered with a 16-7 run to take a 21-17 lead, but two straight three-pointers for Moses Idris helped to put the Packers back in front 24-21, and a reverse layup for Hovland gave Austin a 28-25 lead at the half.

The second half started in spectacular fashion for Austin when Moses Idris threw down two alley-oop dunks in under a minute to start the half, each one off passes from Agwa Nywesh to give the Packers a 32-25 lead, and a straighaway three for Okey Okey late gave Austin a 36-29 lead.  The lead stayed at seven points when Tony Ciola drilled a three to make the score 38-31, and a steal a short time later for Hovland led to a layup for Nywesh as the Packer lead stood at seven at 41-34.  A pull-up three for Nywesh later increased Austin’s lead to nine at 46-37, and layups for Hovland and Lilly later kept the Packer lead at eight at 54-46. Austin was then able to hold off a final push by the Rockets to secure the win.

Besides Idris and Hovland, Okey Okey added eight points for the Packers while Agwa Nywesh added seven points, Lero Oman scored five points, Pierre Lilly chipped in four points and Victor Idris added three for Austin, who moved to 13-3 in the Big 9 Conference with the win and 17-3 overall on the sesaon.  The Packers remain a half-game ahead of third-place Rochester Century and 2 1/2 games behind front-running Mankato East, who is 15-0 in conference play.   Austin returns to action next Tuesday at Packer Gym versus Owatonna, with the varsity tip-off at 7:30 p.m.