Youth is not an excuse.

Auburn Mountainview boys basketball coach Thomas Ostrander said his team has a more significant issue after Tuesday night’s 64-56 loss in a North Puget Sound League 4A Olympic Division contest against Enumclaw.

“We just have to be more aggressive to start games,” Ostrander said. “We’re not good enough to come out half-speed and expect to beat teams.”

The Lions suffered significant graduation losses, including guard Ryan Lacey and center Tristan Miguel, both of whom now play at Western Oregon University, after they helped guide the program to its first state tournament appearance last season. Lacey averaged 22 points and seven rebounds per game as Auburn Mountainview finished with a 21-2 record.

But Ostrander said his team has had time to acclimate.

“They have 13 games under their belts,” he said. “We’re not young any more.”

Slow starts, Ostrander said, are a larger issue than inexperience for this season’s Lions (5-8 overall, 2-5 Olympic).

“We can’t decide to start playing in the second half. Period,” he said. “We’ve got to have guys that look to be aggressive from the get-go.”

Junior guard Zach Richardson hit a 3-pointer to give the Lions an early lead, but they did not score for more than six minutes before senior forward Ben Mose’s reverse layup with 19 seconds remaining in the first quarter. At that point, the Hornets (8-5, 4-3) led 15-5.

And it only became worse for Auburn Mountainview from there on.

During the first half, the Lions converted just 33 percent of their shots. But they may have struggled even more on the defensive end as Enumclaw converted 59 percent of its field-goal attempts. Ostrander said the Hornets had 24 points in the paint by halftime.

“You’re not going to win any games like that,” he said.

Enumclaw junior wing Kaden Anderson was the primary beneficiary as he scored 14 of his game-high 25 points during the first half.

“If good players get wide-open shots, they’re going to make them,” Ostrander said.

He said the team needs to work on “everything” from a defensive standpoint, but the opening 16 minutes accentuated one point in particular.

“In the first half, I definitely think it was an effort thing,” Ostrander said. “They outworked us.”

As a result, the Hornets had built a 38-20 lead by halftime.

“It’s something we’ve talked about a lot,” Ostrander said. “You just can’t dig yourself a hole, be down by 18 points at halftime and expect to win.”

The Lions recovered somewhat after halftime as junior guard Zach Richardson finished with 23 points, and his freshman backcourt mate, Quinn Lacey, added 11. A 3-pointer by junior guard PJ Gahungu cut Auburn Mountainview’s deficit to 59-49 with 1:42 remaining. But the early deficit was too much to overcome.

The schedule appears to present the Lions an opportunity to recover when they host last-place Thomas Jefferson (3-9, 0-7) at 7:15 p.m. Friday. But Ostrander said it would be a mistake for his team to overlook the Raiders.

“I don’t think their record is indicative of their ability,” he said. “They’ve played everyone tough.”