A strong midseason run led to back-to-back wins for the Albert Lea B-squad boys’ basketball team.

In what coach Jeff Marty called arguably their best form of the season, the Bengals started strong and jumped all over visiting Winona. Keyed by a defense that caused one turnover after another, the Bengals gave a strong scoring performance in taking a 17-7 first-quarter lead, and extending it to 37-22 at the half. They cruised to a 69-49 victory.

&uot;I have told the guys that the key ingredient for our team is hustle and determination,&uot; said Marty. &uot;They definitely are made up of the attacking-type of personalities, and seem to excel when they allow themselves to take some risks for the big plays. As long as we are working hard on defense and rebounding, our offense will get the job done.&uot;

On Tuesday, the Bengals started slow against visiting Fairmont, trailing 12-8 at the end of the first quarter. Focusing on defense, Albert Lea allowed only three second-quarter points to take a 23-15 halftime lead, extending it to 36-20 after three periods. They went on to win 44-31.

&uot;We did have a little trouble in the second half where we allowed ourselves to go into a very passive mode offensively, not scoring aggressively,&uot; said Marty. &uot;It looked like we were afraid to put the game away, and allowed our opponents to really hang around much longer than they should have. It was a great learning experience, seeing the up side of a lull and reinforcing the fact that we need to continue to play hard even when we have a large lead.&uot;

The Bengals face Rochester Century at home tonight.