ADAMS — It was pretty clear when the starting lineups were announced that the Rebels were going to have trouble inside against Kasson/Mantorville.

But the Southland boys basketball team probably didn’t expect to finish with more turnovers (26) than rebounds (23) in a 64-53 season opening loss Monday night.

The Komets inside duo of Griffin Reed, a 6-8 center, and Alex Ek, a 6-5 center, had there way inside against a Rebels team that doesn’t have much height, as they combined for 29 points.

“We knew coming into this game that they had the size,” Southland head coach Jon Thalberg said. “I was worried about them intimidating us a little bit and tonight they did that. We tried too hard on some things and it’s a learning experience for us.”

The lack of rebounding hurt Southland most in the game’s last six minutes. Alan May, who had 18 points, 7 rebounds and 6 steals, hit a reverse lay-up to tie the game at 44 with 6:05 left in the contest.

However, K/M’s Jeremey Gabrielson knocked down a pull-up three and Reed and Ek both had put-back scores to push the Komets’ lead back up to 51-44 with 3:37 to go.

After May hit a two free throws to make it 51-46, Ek rebounded a missed free throw and put it back in to make it 54-46 with 2:24 left and the Rebels never got closer than six the rest of the way.

While the Southland was able to get some points inside, its outside game was lacking as it hit just one three.

“It’s frustrating because we didn’t take a lot of outside shots and when we did take them we didn’t make them,” Thalberg said. “It would’ve been nice to hit some outside shots but we got it inside and did what we wanted to. We don’t want to get into a three point shooting contest.”

Southland got some solid play from it’s bench as sophomores Sam Klaehn, Decker Bendtsten and Chris Wolffe combined for 10 points and eight steals in their first extended varsity playing time.

“I really was pleased with them,” Thalberg said. “That was one of our biggest concerns is who was going to play off the bench. Those guys really stepped up and that was nice.”

Southland forced 33 Komet turnovers but it never led the entire night as K/M scored the first four points of the game.

K/M              32 32 — 64

Southland 23 30 — 53

Southland scoring: Alan May, 18; Mike Goergen, 12; Nick Schmitz, 7; Sam Klaehn, 6; Sam Noterman, 6; Decker Bendtsen, 2; Chris Wolffe, 2; free throws: 61 percent (14-for-23); rebounds: 23 (May, 7); turnovers: 26