SMETHPORT — For the second game in a row, a slow start proved to be Smethport’s undoing.

A game after falling to Bradford by five points after trailing by double digits in the second half, the Hubs found themselves in a similar position against Kane on Tuesday.

Smethport trailed the Wolves by as much as 20 in the second half, rallied to within a few possessions late but never got over the hump in a 43-35 loss to the Wolves.

“If I had an answer (for how) to get out and make baskets quicker… I wish I did because I’d implement it,” said Smethport coach Jay Acker after the loss.

Neither team got off to a particularly strong start. Kane (5-2) led just 6-3 after the first quarter before taking a 16-5 lead into halftime.

The Wolves’ key to building that advantage was pounding the ball inside to Zuke Smith, who scored 16 points in the win. Eight of those came before the intermission.

“It’s effective to get the ball inside, especially against the zones (Smethport was) running,” Kane coach Caleb Landmesser said. “Zuke’s gravity certainly makes it easier to move the ball and find the open person. We definitely want to get it into him as much as we can, too. He’s 6-foot-6 and moves like a guard with great footwork… He was able to come through for us.”

The Hubs (6-7), meanwhile, were getting decent looks at the basket, but struggled mightily from the field. According to Acker, Smethport shot just 1-for-15 from the field in the first half, and compounded that struggle with a 3-for-9 performance from the charity stripe.

“You won’t win a ball game shooting that poorly,” he added.

Acker added of Smith and the Wolves’ size overall, “Across the board, they’re bigger than we are. Obviously, that’s something we wanted to look at — trying to do a good job of rebounding. But what are you going to do? Zuke is 6-6; it’s tough to defend that.”

The teams were able to open up their offenses a bit more in the second half. Kane began the third quarter on a 10-3 run, courtesy of five quick points from Carson Whiteman. He finished with seven points.

From there, the Wolves ballooned their lead to as wide as 20 points — a 31-11 advantage with 2:19 to go in the third.

“Offensively, we had to move against the zone. We fare very well against zones personnel-wise, but when we’re stagnant and don’t make defenses work, we’re easy to guard,” Landmesser said. “We were able to do a better job of that as we stretched out the game. There are things to work on, but I’m proud of our guys for battling.”

Smethport was able to whittle its deficit down to 14 entering the fourth, and then battled to within seven points on multiple occasions.

A Layne Shall 3-pointer cut the Kane lead to 36-29 with 4:07 to play, and then a Chase Burdick 2-pointer got Smethport to within 39-32 with 1:55 to go. Shall finished with 13 points, while Richie McDowell added 12 for Smethport.

However, that’s as close as the Hubs got, as Kane hit free throws down the stretch to close out the eight-point victory. The Wolves visit Elk County Catholic on Friday.

“Our guys were getting open shots, and Richie was going into the lane and getting open looks. They just weren’t falling,” Acker said of Smethport’s offense. “Richie played well. I also thought overall our defense was good, and it got us back into the game. But when you’re not scoring, you’re not going to win. It’s tough.”

Smethport, which has dropped back-to-back games after entering that stretch on a four-game win streak, visits Oswayo Valley today.

“We just can’t get down on ourselves. We’ll have to stay positive and take it one game at a time,” Acker said. “We just need to do the little things like finish at the hoop, focus a little more on free throws and just stay focused. We still have a long way to go. There are still quite a few games, so we have to go one at a time.”

AT SMETHPORT

Kane (43)

Zuke Smith 7 2-4 16, Zuzek 4 0-1 8, Whiteman 3 0-0 7, Jekielek 1 4-7 6, Deluca 1 0-2 3, Greville 1 0-0 2, Costanzo 0 1-4 1. Totals: 17 7-18 43

Smethport (35)

Layne Shall 3 5-10 13, Richie McDowell 4 2-4 12, Higley 1 2-2 4, Adamoski 1 1-2 3, Burdick 1 0-0 2, Ognen 0 1-6 1. Totals: 10 11-24 35

Kane 6 16 33 43

Smethport 3 5 19 35

Three-point goals: Kane 2 (Whiteman 1, Deluca 1), Smethport 4 (Shall 2, McDowell 2); Total fouls: Kane 19, Smethport 18; fouled out: McDowell (Smethport)