By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

CHASE -- In the first half Tuesday night, the Lucas-Luray prep boys' basketball team trailed 16-6 against Chase. The Cougars stayed with the Kats after intermission, but Lucas-Luray's youth and season-long offensive struggles yielded a 41-32 loss.

"That's the biggest thing," Lucas-Luray coach Mark Spears said. "We didn't shoot the ball. We've got to do everything perfect to get back in the ball game. Defensively, second half, we had better intensity. We hit a few shots, but not near enough to get back in the ball game. It was frustrating. We are a better team than what we showed tonight."

Lucas-Luray dropped to 2-13, while Chase moved to 3-13. The Cougars, who have one senior and no player taller than 6-foot, have scored 50 points once all season. Nine times Lucas-Luray has scored fewer than 40 points. Sophomore Brandon Pool led Lucas-Luray with 11 points.

Chase led 7-0 early in the first quarter and bumped its lead to 10 midway through the second quarter. Lucas-Luray cut the deficit to 33-25 midway through the fourth quarter as Chase scored two points in four minutes. Chase, though, received 21 points from senior Jake Kizzar. Kizzar, who scored often off mid-range jumpers, hit three jumpers late to keep Chase in the lead.

"We struggled to score," Chase coach Mitch Light said. "That's been our Achilles' heel all year is getting into the 40s and 50s."

Lucas-Luray shot 3-of-14 in the fourth quarter and suffered its second straight loss. "The ability to shoot the ball, that's just an acquired skill," Spears said. "When you don't shoot the ball very well, it doesn't matter what age you are, sometimes your seniors don't shoot the ball very well. When the ball doesn't go in the hole, you've got to do a lot of things right. I don't feel like we gave a very good effort tonight to start with. I thought we were better in the second half."