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Three Lakes nearly beats Rebels, drops second of back-to-back

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It was a busy second half of the week for the Three Lakes boys basketball team as the Jays faced a back-to-back road trip at Laona-Wabeno and Hurley last Thursday and Friday.
It turned out that the Jays couldn’t hold on in a 62-52 loss to the Rebels and followed that up with a 56-45 loss at Hurley.
Three Lakes turned up the heat defensively in the first half on the road at Northern Lakes Conference favorite Laona-Wabeno. It turned out to be a tale of two halves after Three Lakes held the Rebels, who average 58 points per game, to just 17 at halftime and led 20-17.
From there, the Jays were outscored 45-32 in the second half after the team played well for most of the game, according to Head Coach George Lurvey.
“We played our best basketball in ¾ of this game; we held Laona Wabeno to just 17 points at halftime. We again just couldn’t put a full game together, which is what has been plaguing us this season. We have glimpses of playing fantastic basketball and as we get tired, we make mistakes and teams tend to pull away from us,” he said. “The loss of 10 in this game is a little deceiving as the game was really a back-and-forth four-to-five point game most of the game. We had to foul down the stretch to try to get the ball back and Laona-Wabeno made all of their free throws.”
Energy stuck out to the coaching staff, which helped in the effort to keep the Jays in the game, until they were forced to foul as the time continued to wind down.
“I was really proud of the guys with the energy they brought to this game and their effort throughout the game,” explained Lurvey. “If we limit some crucial turnovers in the second half and aren’t forced to foul at the end, this game could have gone either way.”
Easton Lurvey (15) and Peyton Pitlik (12) led the scoring, while there was also a balanced scoring effort with Eli Erickson scoring nine, and Levi Lurvey and Owen Liebscher each pitching in six.

Hurley game

After a tough loss the night before, the drainage seemed to drip into a game against a gritty Hurley team, who picked up the nonconference win.
Like the last game, Three Lakes used its defense in the first half and kept Hurley uncomfortable offensively.
“We did not play well at all in this game. I think it was the product of an emotional game the day before at Laona and almost pulling off an upset there, and then the next day traveling to Hurley to play a very fast scrappy team,” said Lurvey. “We were banged up with some injuries from the game the day before and it showed in this game. Again, we played phenomenal defense in the first half, holding Hurley to 20 points at halftime, but we didn’t have enough gas in the tank to stay with them for a full game.”
Pitlik stepped up in the game and broke through offensively despite losing the game. He finished the night with 22 points and used his size to collect 20 rebounds.
“Peyton kept us in this game with a 22 point, 20 rebound game,” stated Lurvey. “He really played well in this one where his teammates were all struggling shooting; he picked up the slack with a great performance and aggressive play.”
Three Lakes (3-7,1-2) faced NLC foe Florence at home this past Tuesday, before hosting a nonconference game with Mellen on Thursday, Jan. 16, at 7:15 p.m.

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