An aggressive second-half defense that forced 11 turnovers gave the Albert Lea boys’ basketball team a chance.

“At halftime, we challenged them to be more disciplined defensively,” said Tigers coach Lucas Kreuscher.

After Albert Lea forced one turnover in the first half, Winona turned the ball over on its first four possessions of the second, but the Tigers lost 62-51 Friday at Winona.

“We kept chipping away and cut their lead to three,” Kreuscher said. “But we spent so much energy climbing out of the hole that we didn’t have enough to catch them.”

Dedoch Chan led the Tigers with 25 points, five rebounds, two assists, four steals and a block.

Mal Pine added nine points and two rebounds.

“Mal had eight points in the second half and really stepped up and hit some big shots,” Kreuscher said. “He hit some mid-range jumpers and had as good of a game as he’s had all year.”

Jake Kilby added seven points, four rebounds and a steal.

The loss ended Albert Lea’s regular season with a record of 0-26.

Next, the Tigers will play at No. 5 Class AAA Red Wing (20-6, 17-5 Big Nine) at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Section 2AAA quarterfinals.

It will be the third straight season that Albert Lea faces Red Wing in the section quarterfinals. Two years ago, the Tigers lost 59-56 in a game where they led by one point with less than 10 seconds left but couldn’t hold on. Last year, Albert Lea fell 64-54.