ATLANTIC - St. Albert shrugged off a sluggish start to come back and top Atlantic 52-44 in a non-conference boys basketball game Tuesday.

The Falcons could muster just two points in the game's opening quarter, but went on to score 18 in the second to knot the game up at 20-20 heading into halftime and then pulled away in the second half.

"We were pretty stagnant in the first quarter," St. Albert coach Dale Scott said. "But we started attacking their zone and breaking it down after that."

Defense helped set the tone for the Falcons, as they forced 19 Atlantic turnovers.

"I was real happy with our defense," Scott added. "We got some deflections and some steals, and that contributed to our offense."

Six-foot-four sophomore standout Marc Baumert poured in a game-high 21 points to lead St. Albert, and he also pulled down nine rebounds and swiped four steals.

Nolan Batten added eight points and five steals for the Falcons, Doug Moran scored eight points and C.J. Gradoville scored six to go with four assists.

Jerome Hoegh's 16 points led Atlantic.

St. Albert is on the road Friday at Nebraska Class C1 No. 2 rated Wahoo Neumann.

St. Albert 2 18 16 16 - 52

Atlantic 8 12 12 12 - 44

St. Albert: Jake Brown 0, Nolan Batten 8 (5s), Quinn Walsh 3, Doug Moran 8, Alan Caniglia 0 (5r), C.J. Gradoville 6 (4a), Matt Herrington 0, Marc Baumert 21 (9r, 4s), Matt Waters 6.

Atlantic: Matt Wohlleber 2, Jake Smith 6, Jerome Hoegh 16, Derek Jacobsen 1, Brandon Peterson 2, Kasey Juhl 14, Jacey Hoegh 3.

Records: St. Albert (7-2), Atlantic (1-9).

Ratings: SWI: St. Albert 8th (1A-2A).

Daily Nonpareil - 01.11.2006