The Awesome Blossoms took advantage of a strong transition game to pull off an 87-43 win over Lyle/Pacelli in a boys basketball season opener Friday in Blooming Prairie.

After trailing 6-2 early, the Blossoms (1-0 overall) rallied off 16 straight points to go up 18-6 with 8:57 left in the first half. The Athletics (0-1 overall) pulled to within 24-17 after Justin Hutchinson scored four straight, but Matt Zellmer hit a three to put BP up 27-17 and L/P got no closer than eight the rest of the way.

BP led 45-25 at the half and it went on a 7-2 run to open the second half.

“The first half we were feeling it out with a bunch of new guys,” said Zellmer, who had 24 points and eight rebounds. “In the second half we decided to take advantage of their turnovers and we played together more.”

The Athletics racked up 29 turnovers on a night that saw point guard Cody Meyer miss major minutes due to foul trouble, which led Lyle/Pacelli head coach Reid Olson to go to his bench.

“We depend so much on pressure defense and tempo it’s tough to get in a rhythm with our lack of depth,” Olson said. “Cody got a little frustrated tonight and he needs to learn from that.”

Senior forward Israel Clark was a big ignitor for BP as he finished with nine points, five assists, and three steals. Clark found a way to get penetration consistently to set up his teammates.

“Israel can dish the dimes. He’s very creative with the ball,” Zellmer said.

Clark is returning to BP after missing all of last basketball season with an ACL tear in his left knee. The 6-foot senior got off to a slow start, but quickly rebounded.

“It was a lot quicker than I expected after two years off. It was a lot faster and it took awhile to get used to,” Clark said. “I was itching last year watching my team so it was nice to get out there with the guys I’ve been playing with since fifth grade and compete with them.”

The Blossoms got some solid play out of their new front line as Josh Johnson scored eight and grabbed eight boards, and sophomore Cooper Nelson scored six and grabbed four rebounds.

“We’ve got some new big guys out there. Cooper did some good things and Josh Johnson did a real nice job of rebounding in the second half. We also moved Josh Toquam inside a little more this season,” BP head coach John Bruns said.

Brady Stier poured in 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Athletics.

“Brady worked his tail off tonight and we need to do a better job of finding him,” Olson said. “He’s gonna have a mismatch almost every time we play.”

Olson said it was tough to play against BP, but that’s the type of team the Athletics will have to take on if they want to get better.

“They’re so athletic and they share the ball well,” he said. “I’m disappointed in our defense tonight we weren’t denying in our half court set and good teams are gonna make open shots.”

The first half got off to a sluggish start as their were a total of 42 free throws attempted (26 for BP and 16 for L/P).

SCORING

LP 25 18 — 43

BP 45 42 — 87

Blooming Prairie scoring: Matt Zellmer, 24; Josh Toquam, 13; Israel Clark, 9; Josh Johnson, 8; Austin Moe, 8; Cooper Nelson, 6; Robert Hofius, 6; Logan Underwood, 5; Justen Ingvalson, 4; Dudley Smith, 2; Jeffery Doerhoefer, 2; free throws: 59 percent (20-for-34); rebounds: 36 rebounds (Zellmer, 8; Johnson, 8); turnovers: 14

Lyle/Pacelli scoring: Brady Stier, 15; Justin Hutchinson, 8; Michael Lonergan, 7; Matt Buntje, 5; Cody Meyer, 4; Kyle Pereault, 2; Alex Brennan, 2; free throws; 42 percent (8-for-19); rebounds: 27 (Stier, 11); turnovers: 29