LEXINGTON - Jordan Pflederer and his Tremont High School basketball teammates knew what was coming at halftime Friday night.

Tremont coach Ron Martin didn't disappoint.

"He lit into us after the first half," Pflederer said. "He's got a voice on him when he wants to yell."

With their ears still burning, the Turks started the second half with a 14-2 run to break open a close game and send Lexington to a 71-52 Heart of Illinois Conference defeat.

"We were coming off a Delavan game (58-55 loss) that was really tough, and we didn't recover mentally as well as we should have," said Pflederer, who scored a game-high 23 points. "We started out the first two minutes fairly decently and then we tailed off.

"It wasn't that we did everything terribly. We just were a little bit slow. We're a pressure team and we have to be on top of our game or else everything falls apart. The second half we came out and responded pretty well. They couldn't handle our pressure."

Four different players scored during the outburst at the start of the third quarter as Tremont (4-2, 2-0) extended a 25-22 halftime lead to 39-24. Lexington (2-2, 1-2) got within 12 by the end of the period, but Tremont put it away by beginning the fourth quarter with an 11-2 run.

"We had a nice little discussion at halftime," Martin said. "They were kind of feeling sorry for themselves after the Delavan game. Sometimes kids have a tendency to relive it. I kept telling them it's done and it's over with.

"The second half they responded. Defensively we're not very big so we have to pressure the ball all over the place. If we do that we give ourselves a pretty good chance to win."

Eli Bontemps supported Pflederer with 17 points, and Todd Cantrell added 13. Pflederer also grabbed a game-high eight rebounds to lead the Turks to a 38-23 advantage on the glass. Tremont shot 55 percent (17 of 31) in the second half and 47 percent (26 of 55) overall.

"We had a lot of guys contribute in the second half," Pflederer said. "This was one of the first games where we've seen a box and one against me. The first half was a little frustrating. I was trying to do too much and the guys weren't being aggressive enough away from the ball.

"The second half Todd Cantrell, Matt Workman and Eli Bontemps all stepped up really well and started penetrating. When we have three other guys who are legitimate scorers, teams can't just focus on me."

Michael Emberton paced cold-shooting Lexington with 18 points, and Sam Williamson had 15. The Minutemen shot 38 percent (20 of 53) from the field and 42 percent (8 of 19) from the free throw line.

"They are a team that has great spurt-ability," said Lexington coach Nathaniel Meiss. "If we can't maintain their speed and their ability to score a lot of points in a hurry, then we're going to struggle. They did a great job getting their hands on the basketball and turning that into steals and baskets.

"The thing we had tonight was effort. We got to the basket and went to the foul line. I'm pleased with what we can build on. We took a step in the right direction even though it didn't look like it on the scoreboard."