Staff photo / Preston Byers Howland’s Frank Hoso (25) drives past Girard’s Kaiden Clare during the Tigers’ win Friday at Girard High School.

GIRARD — Entering Friday’s non-conference matchup, Howland had held its opponents to 50.5 points per game, while Girard had scored an average of 68.6 points per game, including 70 or more three times.

Something likely had to give when the teams met, and it did albeit for both teams, with the Indians’ offense limited to their second-lowest scoring output and the Tigers allowing their second-highest total from an opponent during a 65-58 Howland win that left both head coaches dissatisfied.

“We’re not nearly as good as a team as we can be right now,” Howland coach Dan Bubon said. “We have some internal conflict right now that we have to fix, but the talent is there. A blind man can see we have talent, so I have to do a better job of getting guys into better positions, better groupings together, better attitudes.”

Neither team was deterred in the opening period, as they traded baskets back-and-forth, leading to three ties and six lead changes over the course of eight minutes.

The Tigers, who fell behind early, surged ahead with offensive rebounds and, in particular, successive dunks by Carter Saul. Moments later, Howland again took the lead with a Ta-Shawn Fambro basket, but the Indians finished the quarter on top 17-16 after a last-second field goal by Braxton Sloan.

Howland, which used its size advantage to great effect on the glass, found a bit of a groove in the second quarter and grabbed its largest advantage of the game to that point midway through the period. Girard responded with a mini-run of its own to tie it back up at 25. Howland, though, finished as it started and scored two buckets in the final minute of the half to take a 29-25 lead into the break.

The Tigers stretched their lead in the third quarter as Girard tried and failed to convert a field-goal attempt. Shortly after the Indians managed to do so, nearly halfway through the quarter, Howland went up by 11 points. While Girard momentarily cut the deficit back to seven, the Tigers responded with eight unanswered points.

Down 51-38 heading into the final period, Girard had few options other than to “step on the gas,” according to head coach Nick Canterino, and try to create chaos on the hardwood with a ratcheted-up full-court press. The defensive strategy immediately paid off, with the Tigers turning the ball over twice in the backcourt in the first 70 seconds of the fourth, and the Indians cashing in with back-to-back 3-pointers to nearly halve the deficit.

Girard, utilizing a fast and hectic press, again cut it to seven and then to six, then five and, with a Kaiden Clare triple, to two with 1:10 remaining.

“We just got sped up,” Bubon said. “The pressure, which we’ve got some veteran guys that should know how to play against pressure, that have played well against pressure before, and we just did all the things you can’t do: dribble with our head down, didn’t see guys that were open, very indecisive. So we got to fix those things.”

Unlike most of the fourth quarter, however, the final minute would not swing in Girard’s favor. After Saul split a pair of free throws, Jackson Mickel blocked a Sloan layup and moments later, Sloan was whistled for a charge while flying through the paint. Saul made both of the subsequent foul shots to grow the lead to five with 22.4 to go and effectively ice the game, as Girard’s shots to pull within a possession missed the mark.

“I thought they kicked our butts on the glass — that was kind of the name of the game,” Canterino said. “I thought our energy was kind of down a little bit to start the game. I thought we kind of got down when we made a couple of mistakes. I’m proud that we fought back, but rebounding was the name of the game tonight.”

Saul finished the night with 13 points and was the Tigers’ leading scorer, while Wesley Fee and Luca Naples each added 10. For Girard, Sloan scored a game-high 20 points and was joined in double figures by Pearson and Cam Merrick, each of whom had 10.

Neither team plays again until after Christmas Day; Girard (4-2, 2-0 in Northeast 8) will be on the road vs. McDonald on Dec. 27, while Howland (4-3) is at Liberty the same day.