Nick Argentati saw some improvement in his Badin boys basketball team between its season-opening loss Saturday against Madeira and Tuesday night’s non-conference matchup with Northwest, but it wasn’t enough to make much of a difference.

The youthful Rams committed 24 turnovers, helping the visiting Knights leave with a 48-36 win at Badin.

“It was the same thing,” Argentati said. “It’s hard to score points when you turn the ball over. We looked a little better on offense. We took better shots and ran some offense.”

Seniors Ramar Hairston and Randall Mullins each made three 3-pointers and scored 18 points to lead Northwest (2-0), which snapped a seven-game losing streak against Badin (0-2). Junior forward Nathan Moss scored 10 points, senior Brandon Arkle added nine and junior guard Cameron Mohr finished with eight for the Rams, who never led after Knights sophomore Germaine Britten connected on a floater to give Northwest a 7-6 lead with 3:41 left in the first quarter. The Knights went 12-of-15 on free throws on their way to leading by as many as 19 points late in the game.

The turnover bug was so pervasive that the Rams lost the ball three times on traveling calls produced by their feet slipping out from under them.

“I turned to (the assistant coaches) and said, ‘How does that happen?’” Argentati said. “I guess it’s guys trying to go too fast.”

The Rams are 0-2 for the first time since the 2005-06 team started 0-4 on its way to finishing 5-16. That was Argentati’s first team, and he recalls it being almost as young as the current edition.

“We knew it was going to be difficult, but that doesn’t make it any easier for (the players) or us,” he said.

Badin is scheduled to play its first road game of the season on Friday at 7:30 p.m. against Division I power Moeller of the GCL South Division, followed by home games next Tuesday against Chaminade Julienne and Friday against Roger Bacon.

“That’s what I told the guys,” Argentati said. “It’s not going to get any easier, and nobody’s going to feel sorry for us.”