It was another uphill climb for the Highland men's basketball team on Wednesday night as they hosted Labette in KJCCC action.

Scotties fell down early and were unable to put together enough to make a push to comeback falling 82-59 at home.

It was a slow start for both teams early as the Scotties held a 6-4 lead three minutes into the game but Labette rattled off 10-straight points to secure the lead and control of the game. The Cardinals pushed the lead to double figures at 19-9 with 13:18 left in the first half but the Scotties were within single digits by the media timeout trailing 21-13. However, a four-minute scoreless stretch for the Scotties partnered with a 12-0 Labette run grew the Cardinal lead and gave them the 45-31 advantage at halftime.

The second half was much more of the same as Labette continued to find ways to score and stretch the lead growing the lead to as high as 28 points, ultimately handing the Scotties an 82-59 loss at home.

Highland shot 42.9% but Labette hit 51% of their shots and went 11-20 from three-point range. While the Scotties did win the rebounding battle 34-26 it was turnovers that played a big factor as Highland had 14 and Labette scored 23 points off those turnovers, while only recording six turnovers of their own.

Rashon Johnson paced Highland in the loss with 15 points, going 7-10 from the free-throw line and added eight rebounds. While Marquise Milton scored 12 points and Zyon Smith chipped in 10 points.

The loss sends the Scotties to 16-9 on the season and 3-4 in KJCCC play. Highland continues their season on Saturday, February 15^th as they host Hesston for a 3:00 pm contest.