Austin Packers boys’ basketball downs Albert Lea 83-50 Tuesday evening

The Austin Packers boys’ basketball team kicked off the 2022 portion of their schedule at I-90 rival Albert Lea Tuesday evening, and guard Cham Okey led four Packers in double figures with 26 points as Austin rolled to an 83-50 win.

Okey, who sunk six of Austin’s 10 3-point field goals in the game swished three in a row to help the Packers jump out to a 23-5 lead in the first half, and after leading 36-21 at the half, a 3-pointer from guard Jack Lang gave Austin a 48-29 lead with just over 11:30 to go, and a hoop from forward Victor Idris later boosted the Packers’ lead to 24 at 58-34 on their way to the win.

Besides his 26 points, Okey added two steals and a rebound, Idris posted 15 points, three rebounds, two assists and one steal, Kaden Murley chipped in 14 points, team-highs in rebounds with six and steals with four, plus an assist, Jack Lang wound up with three 3-point field goals on his way to 11 points, A’Triel Terry added four points, Jacob Herrick and Cameron Swenson each tallied three points and Jared Lillemon, Gage Manahan and Otong Nyikew each scored two points for the Packers, who outrebounded Albert Lea in the win 35-25, they also picked up 14 steals and forced 26 Tiger turnovers.

Austin is now 3-2 in the Big 9 Conference and 4-4 overall on the season, and they are back in action Thursday night at Packer Gym versus the Northfield Raiders, and you’ll hear the game live on AM 1480 KAUS, with the pre-game show on the air at 7:15 p.m., and tip-off at 7:30 p.m.