South St. Paul saw the forest through the long, athletic trees that stood in the way of a win at the Breakdown Tip Off Classic.

The Packers hardly top out past 6 feet on the roster, but they play with bravado that can’t be measured with a ruler.

They held off a late rally by the Mankato East Cougars to win 66-62 Saturday in Hopkins.

“They’re extremely long and athletic, and we’re not,” South St. Paul coach Matthew McCollister said about Mankato East, led by a wing duo at 6-foot-7 and 6-foot-8. “Our tallest guy is maybe 6-2. We knew we had to pressure the ball and make it a full court game because their length would take over in the half court.”

The Packers (3-0) did just that, making life difficult for the Cougars (0-2). Whether it was in-your-face pressure or reading the passing lanes, South St. Paul forced over 20 turnovers.

“Just keep attacking, playing defense. It was all on defense,” South St. Paul senior guard Devin Newsome said. “Make sure we had help side and, if they were driving, make sure we were out of the [restricted area] to take a charge since all they were doing was attacking. They weren’t hitting shots.”

Mankato East finished with just three made three-pointers and trailed 34-29 at halftime. South St. Paul also looked inside for the most part, sinking five triples.

The Packers opened on a 5-0 run to start the second half thanks to a layup by Newsome and a triple from senior guard Alonzo Dodd.

Newsome led all scorers with 28 points followed by 20 for Dodd, who was named by the event as the player of the game.

B.J. Omot, a 6-foot-8 senior forward, led Mankato East with 19 points. Two came on an alley-oop late in the first half on the assist from 6-foot-7 senior forward Puolrah Gong, who had six points.

That was one of the few highlight reel plays in a physical, slow tempo game.

The Packers led by or near double figures for a large portion of the second half before the Cougars ratcheted up the intensity.

“I thought we played with much better toughness after the first five minutes of the second half,” Mankato East coach Joe Madson said. “We decided let’s buckle down and just be tougher. Take some charges, rebound better, be confident with the ball. We didn’t have some of that early on.”

Mankato East, ranked No. 10 in the Minnesota Basketball News Class 3A rankings, forced No. 3 South St. Paul into perimeter shots that weren’t falling.

That allowed the Cougars to pull as close as two points down the stretch, only for the Packers’ Kaiden Moua to sink one of two free throws in the closing seconds for the final point of the game that sealed the victory.

The Packers are hopeful games like this serve as a springboard to get back to the state tournament for the first time since 1970.

This was South St. Paul’s first appearance at the Breakdown Tip Off Classic, which invites top teams from across the state for a daylong extravaganza of hoops.

“In the locker room before the game I talked about opportunities. I looked at Alonzo, our senior captain, and said ‘How long have we been talking about playing in this event?’” McCollister said. “He said ‘Coach, since you got here we talked about being in events like this.”

Specifically this event. Last year we were going to be and they didn’t have it. This year we finally got that opportunity.

“We can sometimes lose sight of how far we’ve come in three years, and it’s pretty special,” McCollister said.