Joe Madson knew that his Mankato East boys basketball team would face intense defense in the season-opening game against Burnsville, and he tried going against seven players on defense in practice to simulate the pressure.

But East still committed 25 turnovers in the 68-41 nonconference loss Thursday at the East gym.

“We learned that we have to take care of the ball better,” Madson said. “We knew that was going to be an issue, and you prepare for it, but it’s still difficult. If you can’t beat someone off the dribble once in a while, it’s hard.”

East struggled to get into its offense against the man-to-man and trapping defenses. Burnsville led 16-2 after only six minutes before East answered with six straight, including a 3-pointer by Alex Welter. Another eight-point run allowed Burnsville to lead 32-16 at halftime.

The Blaze still led 40-22 before East had its best stretch of offense. Michael Bornholdt hit a 3-pointer, then Welter hit another. Sam Onsomu and Ken King each scored in the lane, and Bornholdt made another 3-pointer that made it 48-35 with 8:20 to play.

“The good thing about this game is we learned that we can’t play at that pace with a team like that,” Madson said. “Nobody in our league can go up and down like that.”

Burnsville scored nine straight to stretch the margin and coasted to the victory. Devon Knopke finished with 28 points to lead the Blaze, while Patrick Rogers added 13 points, all in the second half. Alex Wheeler had eight rebounds, helping Burnsville to a 41-37 rebounding advantage.

Bornholdt hit three 3-pointers to post a team-high 11 points. Welter also had three 3-pointers for nine points, and Onsomu had eight rebounds to go with six points.

“Sam will play better,” Madson said. “He was too quick to get rid of the ball. We have to play inside-out to open things. We had some good looks that didn’t go in.”

East plays another nonconference home game Saturday against Worthington.