Sometimes to reach the level where you dream to be, you have to be knocked to the ground along the way.
Led by 6-foot-4 Tyrone Marshall with 26 points and six steals, Pearl-Cohn from Nashville handed Tyner its first loss of the season Saturday night, 58-32, in the Henry Bowles Classic at Howard.
Brainerd beat Maplewood 65-56 in the last game of the event.
Pearl-Cohn's Firebirds lost 76-73 to Brainerd in the Class AA state quarterfinals this past March.
They are 5-0 this season with an average victory margin of 24 points, but Tyner stayed with them step for step in the first quarter. Ultimately, the Rams (7-1) struggled with turnovers and corralling rebounds and gave up more than 50 points for the first time this season.
"In order to win, you have to be tough," Tyner coach E'Jay Ward said after reflecting on the impact of late Howard coach Henry Bowles along with his high school coach at Brainerd, Robert High. "There is nothing in life that is easy or will be given to you.
"Anything that's worth having you have to put in work for it. We have to take it the hard way. This was a big wake-up call for us, and we are going to respond. I know we will."
Senior Kobe Smith was the lone Ram in double figures with 14 points.
The Firebirds' Marshall had three dunks - two off alley-oop passes from the state's top-ranked point guard, Marcus Fitzgerald.
Tony Jackson assisted a 3-pointer by Smith for the Rams' first bucket and soon after blocked a shot and scored off a nice find by Kameron Dozier for a 5-3 lead. Smith's leaning jumper at the top of the key with 3:45 left built a 7-5 edge for Tyner, its last advantage of the game.
Pearl-Cohn led 14-11 after the first quarter as Marshall took over with dominant defense, and he nailed two 3-pointers while accounting for 10 second-quarter points as the Firebirds took a 12-point halftime lead.
They received a tomahawk left-handed slam from Miquan Tucker on the right baseline to put the icing on the cake with a 45-22 lead late in the third quarter.
"There's a lot we can learn from this game and use it as a lesson to keep pushing," Ward said. "We have to be tougher and play with more effort. If we can put in the hard work at practice, then it will come together in the game. We aren't where we need to be yet, but we will be. This team has the ability to respond."
Contact Patrick MacCoon at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @PMacCoon.