While the Packers couldn’t buy a perimeter bucket, the Falcons sunk a big one to knock off Austin Tuesday night.

Faribault’s Michael Emge sank a three-pointer from the wing with two seconds left to go in the contest to seal Austin’s 65-62 season opening loss in Packer Gym.

Faribault (2-1 overall, 1-0 Big Nine) held the ball for over a minute on the possession that set up Emge’s three.

“We were trying to get them to the corners and they didn’t want to go there until Emge got it and he just rose above everybody and made a great shot,” said Austin guard Jamaal Gibson, who had eight points and six steals.

Emge scored 18 of his 20 points in the second half as the Falcons gutted out a victory that saw 18 lead changes and 14 ties on the night. The rest of Faribault’s firepower came from senior forward Zach Tinaglia, who had his way in the paint while scoring 23 points.

“The combination of them getting the ball into Tinaglia in the high post and him beating us off the dribble and Emge catching fire, that was the difference,” Austin head coach Kris Fadness said.

Offensively, the Packers’ only player to score in double figures was senior Connor Gunderson, who netted 22 points to go along with five rebounds and four assists. Austin (0-1 overall, 0-1 Big Nine) hit just four of its 23 three-pointers and it missed 13 of its 25 free throw attempts.

“It’s the first game of the year, but we’ve just got to shoot it better. You could tell we hadn’t played yet because we didn’t’ have game legs and a lot of our three point shots were short,” Fadness said. “The bottom line is if we don’t play better we’re going to see box and one and diamond and one (on Connor) all year long. We had a lot of open looks, we’ve just got to make them.”

Faribault led 61-57 with 2:06 left in the game after Emge hit two free throws, but Joey Swatfager hit a three to make it 61-60 with 1:47 left in the game. After the Falcons hit a free throw, T.J. Fritz took the ensuing in-bounds pass coast-to-coast to tie the game up at 62 apiece with 1:16 left in the game.

The Packer defense was aggressive against Faribault on its last possession, but they couldn’t force a turnover.

“I thought we had a couple of chances for steals,” Fadness said.

Faribault led 17-7 early in the first half and the Packers responded with an 11-0 run to take the lead. From that point on, the game was back and forth.

Faribault 30 35 — 65

Austin 23 39 — 62

Austin scoring: Connor Gunderson, 22; Jacob Brehmer, 9; Jamaal Gibson, 8; T.J. Fritz, 7; Tim Erickson, 6; Andrew Kaiser, 4; Joey Swatfager, 3; Max Coffey, 1; field goals: 39 percent (23-for-58); three-pointers: 17 percent (4-for-23); free throws: 45 percent (12-for-25); rebounds: 26 (Fritz, 9); turnovers: 14

Faribault scoring: Zach Tinaglia, 23; Michael Emge, 20; Chad Hansen, 11; Jordan Bardal, 5; Joe Grote, 3; Brady Lombard, 2; Ryan Geiger, 1; field goals: 53 percent (22-for-41); three-pointers: 30 percent (3-for-10); free throws: 64 percent (18-for-28); rebounds: 31 rebounds (Hansen, 9); turnovers: 19