HURON — The scoring and turnover bugaboos that have plagued the Huron Tiger boys’ basketball team returned Friday night. Huron had difficulty scoring the ball and ran into a hot-shooting Sioux Falls Lincoln Patriot team and dropped a 69-38 decision to the visitors, at Huron Arena.

“We just couldn’t get the ball to go down again tonight,” said Huron coach Jon Schouten as his team falls to 2-7. “They got hot at just the right time and it got away from us.”

Huron opened quickly after finding it difficult to find points in its last outing. But a deuce from Brandon Decker and a three-pointer from Derick Siemonsma staked the Tigers to a quick 5-1 lead. Surafel Berhanie countered with a three for the Patriots, but Siemonsma dialed long distance again and a Kler Hae scoop shot put Huron up 10-4.

The teams traded points on consecutive possessions, then the game turned quickly, with Huron leading 12-6.

Jabril Muktar completed an old-fashioned three-point play for Lincoln and on the next Patriot possession,  Ryne Hammerstrom hit from the right wing and Decker was whistled for boxing out a little aggressively. With the bonus possession, Ty Schaefer hit from distance as Lincoln finished the quarter on a 9-0 run and held a 15-12 lead after one.

The points became difficult to find again for Huron in the second quarter, as midway through the period, the Tigers had only a three from Jaren Schley, a free throw from Max Kranzler and a driving layup from Decker. In the meantime, Lincoln got a pair of charity tosses and a three from Berhanie, a deuce and then a trey from Schafer to take a 25-18 lead. The teams played evenly from that point on and a late three-pointer from Berhanie gave the Patriots a 32-24 cushion at the half.

“I thought that last three from 11 (Berhanie) was huge for them,” Schouten said. “We knew that he was a streaky shooter and that if he had a couple go in, chances were good there would be more. But we lost him on that last possession of the half and we go in down eight instead of by five.”

Schouten said that the coaches stressed the importance of the first few minutes of the third quarter and defensively, Huron held Lincoln in check to start. After three minutes, Lincoln had only scored four points, but Huron was struggling from the field.

“We just didn’t execute in the second half,” Schouten said. “We didn’t identify what it was we were trying to do and, again, couldn’t get the ball to go in the basket.”

Things didn’t improve offensively for the Tigers in the rest of the third quarter, as a lone basket from Siemonsma with 10 seconds in the period averted an 0-for in the third. Lincoln put up 15 points in the period and held a 47-26 lead heading to the final period and Huron never got closer.

In the fourth quarter, Berhanie got hot and quickly put to bed any chance that Huron could mount a comeback. Berhanie ended with a game-high 22 points in the game and Schafer added 11 counters. Khalil Cisse led the Patriots on the boards with eight caroms.

Siemonsma had a solid game, leading the Tigers in points with 15 and in rebounds with six boards. No other Tiger dented double figures in the game.

Preliminary games all went to the Patriots as well. The freshman “A” game ended 80-50, for SFL. Holden Hegg scored 12 and Layne Wenzel added 11 for Huron. In the “B” game, Lincoln scored the 52-32 win. Tyson Pfitzer and Grant Owen each notched seven points for Huron.

The Sophomore game ended 68-27 and the JV game final was 55-41. Kranzler scored 14 and Reilyn Zavesky added 13 for the Huron JV team.

Huron entertains Aberdeen Central tonight at Huron Arena, with a 5 p.m. scheduled tip.

“We’re going to have to find some offense tonight against Aberdeen,” Schouten said. “The scouting report on the Golden Eagles says they can all shoot.” Aberdeen Central lost a tough game Friday night on the road at Class “A” powerhouse Tea.

S.F. Lincoln (3-5): Ryne Hammerstrom  2 1-2 6; Ty Schafer 4 1-2 11; Surafel Berhanie 7 2-2 22; Khalil Cisse 3 0-0 8; Caleb Hiatt 1 0-0 2; Carter Brost 2 0-0 5; Jabril Muktar 1 1-1 3; Luke Smith 0 0-2 0; Gage Gohl 0 0-2 0; Cameron Jackson 2 2-4 6; Saif Fhah 1 0-0 2; JT Rock 2 0-0 4. Totals: 25 7-15 69.

Huron (2-7): Teagan Pfitzer 2 0-0 6; Kler Hae 1 2-2 4; Derick Siemonsma 5 3-5 15; Brandon Decker 2 0-0 4; Max Kranzler 1 1-3 4; Jaren Schley 1 0-0 3. James Bock 0 0-2 0; Isaiah Decker 1 0-0 2. Totals: 13 6-12 38.

FG: SFL - 25-47 53%; H - 13-46 28%. 3pt FG: SFL - 12-26 46% (Berhanie 6, Schafer 2, Cisse 2, Hammerstrom, Brost); H - 6-20 30% (Pfitzer 2, Siemonsma 2, Kranzler and Schley). Rebounds: SFL - 36 (Cisse 8); H - 27 (Siemonsma 6). Turnovers: SFL - 13; H - 14. Fouls: SFL - 19, H - 12.