St. Albert used an 8-0 spurt at the end of the first half to pull away on its way to a 54-33 win over Kuemper Catholic in a non-conference boys basketball game Saturday night.

The Falcons clung to a two-point lead with two minutes to go in the second quarter, but the late run gave them a double-digit advantage and the momentum heading into halftime. "It was a pretty tight ballgame throughout the first half," St. Albert coach Dale Scott said. "We went on a run to get a 10-point lead, and after that we just played solid.

"We took care of the ball and played good defense."

Eight players broke into the scoring column for the Falcons, led by sophomore Marc Baumert, who poured in 18 points to go with seven rebounds.

"Marc had a nice night tonight," Scott said. "He's been pretty solid for us."

Doug Moran added 11 points, Nolan Batten finished with nine and six boards and Matt Herrington chipped in with six and seven.

"We were pretty balanced," Scott said. "Batten, Herrington and Baumert really boarded well for us, and I thought everyone played well defensively."

For Kuemper Catholic, Nick Riesselman scored a team-high 10 points.

Kuemper Catholic 9 6 8 10 - 33

St. Albert 10 15 15 14 - 54

Kuemper Catholic: Ryan Adams 0, Nick Riesselman 10, Austin Schoeppner 0, Cory Henkenius 0, Ben Wittrock 5, Austin Wittrock 0, Nic Eischeid 4, Mike Romey 4, Ryan Steinkamp 8, Steven Badding 2, Travis Espenhover 0.

St. Albert: Jake Brown 0, Nolan Batten 9 (6r), Quinn Walsh 2, Doug Moran 11, Jake Hoffa 0, Alan Caniglia 4, C.J. Gradoville 4 (4a), Matt Herrington 6 (7r), Josh Marshall 6, Marc Baumert 18 (7r).

Records: Kuemper Catholic (1-4), St. Albert (2-1).

Daily Nonpareil - 12.11.05