Staff photo by Ari Selvey Nicollet’s Henry Oscarson goes up for a layup during a Tomahawk-Valley Conference, Valley Division boys basketball game Thursday at Nicollet High School.

NICOLLET — Nicollet was unable to overcome a slow first half as it fell to Cleveland 76-63 in a Tomahawk-Valley Conference, Valley Division boys basketball game on Thursday.

Nicollet saw itself down 38-19 after the first half, and though the offense picked up in the second half, Cleveland was able to take care of business late to come away with the win.

“Thirteen games this year and we’ve had 12 halftimes where I’ve had to give the same speech where we didn’t show up in the first half,” Nicollet head coach Chris Hulke said. “We have no idea why. We’ve tried different defenses, we’ve tried yelling, we’ve tried telling them they’re great, and it just doesn’t work. We just come out with a lack of energy. We don’t ever get five guys coming out with passion and fearless every game. It’s two or three, and we need all five, because we just don’t have enough talent to win games without all five guys being on the same page.

“Second half we moved the ball, we got the ball to Keegan [Hulke] a little more. He’s a good post player, a good shooter. We just got to work him into the offense more and run stuff through him. But then we missed a few shots, and defensively we just can’t get stops when we need them.”

Keegan Hulke led the team with 27 points and seven rebounds, while Carson Kettner had 20 points and seven rebounds. Henry Oscarson and AJ Kramer each had 7 points.

Cleveland started out hot from outside the arc to open the game, hitting six total 3-pointers in the first half. Strong shooting by the opponent has been a common theme for the Raiders so far this season, and Nicollet is still looking for a solve.

“I wish I knew,” coach Hulke said. “We’ve tried different defenses, we’ve tried different things, and a lot of teams shoot good against us. I’ll have to review the film and see. They’re a good team. They play hard and they’re coached well. They play hard, and teams that play super hard like that give us a lot of trouble.”

Cleveland went up 8-2 after its first two 3-pointers, but Nicollet managed to fight back and tie the game at 12 on a cut from Kramer.

Cleveland called a timeout and went on a 7-0 run to take the lead once more, then another 21-3 run to finish out the half as Nicollet struggled to make a basket, despite some solid looks at shots.

Nicollet found its rhythm to open the second half, going on a 8-0 run to cut the lead to 40-27. Cleveland called another timeout, but Nicollet got the score within single digits as Kettner hit a 3-pointer to put the lead at 42-34. Cleveland pushed the lead back out to double-digits and kept it there for several minutes, then began to pull away, extending the lead out to 66-46. Kettner cut back in with a layup, starting a 7-0 run as Nicollet employed a full-court press to gain some ground. Nicollet scored 8 of the final 9 points of the game, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the deficit as Cleveland took home the win.

Nicollet (4-9, 3-3) travels to Martin County West on Tuesday.