Staff photo / Brian Yauger Warren JFK’s Nico Ciminero drives to the basket Friday night against St. Thomas Aquinas’ Cavaris Culler.

WARREN — Sometimes you just get outplayed.

That was the story Friday night for Kennedy, as they suffered their first loss of the season, 75-64, to St. Thomas Aquinas.

“They played better than us in all aspects. The stuff we normally do we didn’t do today, and that’s a testament to them,” Eagles coach Mark Komlanc said. “They’re the best team that we’ve played to this point, but we were just very stagnant offensively and just kind of unsure for the first two and a half, three quarters.

“The game is pretty simple. You’ve got to rebound the basketball, you’ve got to be able to finish at the rim and you’ve got to be able to defend. We didn’t defend very well. … They just outplayed us for three, four quarters and it’s really hard to beat a team like that.”

Kennedy has had a habit this season of putting together a dominant quarter each game that sets them apart on the scoreboard. In their Dec. 20 game against Bristol, the Eagles piled on 30 points to pull away from the Panthers. While they outscored the Knights, 23-20, in the fourth frame, it wasn’t enough to dig out of the hole they were in.

At halftime, the Eagles trailed 42-27 after being outscored 25-14 in the second quarter.

“When you dig a 15-point hole, that one (dominant) quarter, you don’t want to be the fourth quarter,” Komlanc said. “Because you’re probably pretty gassed. I told them there were shots in that fourth quarter that we normally hit and we just didn’t. We had some wide-open 3s that we normally hit. We didn’t shoot the ball well.”

Nick Ryan led the team with 19 points and eight rebounds. Nico Ciminero followed close behind with 18 points. Twelve of those points for both players came in the second half.

The Eagles (5-1) look to rebound on Monday with another league contest, this time against Ravenna Southeast.

Kennedy gets another crack at Aquinas at their place on Feb. 10.

Komlanc is confident in his young squad bouncing back.

He noted that Kennedy isn’t used to being in this position early in the year. In recent years, the Eagles have started slow, but ramped up as the season goes on.

“Being 5-0 is a little different for this crew based on where they’ve been at the start of the seasons. They’re still young. I mean, that’s a really weird thing. We had senior night tonight and we don’t have a senior. They’re still learning and that’s a positive. I have no doubt they’re going to bounce back. But I just hope that they’re up for the challenge every day in practice because our practices are usually tougher than our games.

“I’ve always believed that a loss could help. Sometimes you need humbled and I think we got humbled tonight. I look forward to seeing how they bounce back.”

At the end of the day, it’s still a January game, and that’s the big lesson Komlanc wants his kids to take away from this. Aquinas’ last game was in a loss to Badger and sparked them against the Eagles. Kennedy is hoping this loss serves a similar purpose.

“They played phenomenal,” Komlanc said. “I know that they also had their loss. They lost to Badger and that kind of opened their eyes and today they played with an intensity that I haven’t seen since probably early in the season because I’ve watched film on them, but they’re going to be good and they’re going to be a tough out.”