File photo – McKinleyville’s Nick Maher.

The McKinleyville Panthers closed out the Albany tournament with a narrow 59-58 loss to San Lorenzo on Saturday.

Nick Maher scored a teak-high 17 points for the Mack boys as he continues his impressive start to the season, while Henry Turner IV added 10 points and Jeremiah Smith chipped in eight points.

The loss was the second  in three tournaments games for the Panthers, who had trouble against the San Lorenzo press in the first half.

“We started the game with a great focus and game plan to really work the ball inside to Nick and work out once they over-corrected,” McKinleyville head coach Chris Davis said. “But when the full-court pressure came in the second we lost our composure and started making one too many mental mistakes and became careless with the ball.”

The good news for the Panthers is that the early-season mistakes they are making are correctable, as they continue to build towards conference play in the new year.

On Saturday, they grew into the game.

“Once we held our composure and continued to beat the pressure, we did a good job executing,” Davis said after the game. “But too many second-chance opportunities really hurt us tonight.

“Our mental and physical toughness just wasn’t there tonight.”

Maher was named to the all-tournament team after a big three days.

It didn’t help matters on Saturday when senior standout Cole Armstrong got hurt early in the fourth quarter.

Armstrong is expected to be back on the court later this week.

The Panthers are now 7-4 on the season.

San Lorenzo improved to 6-3 with the win.

Next up, the Panthers will travel to play at the Windsor tournament, opening against Menlo Atherton in the first-round at 3 p.m. on Thursday.

File photo