Clashing for the second time on the season, the Battle Lake Battlers picked up a 68-56 victory over the Hillcrest Comets, in Little Eight Conference action, on Feb. 21.
Battle Lake held a halftime lead of 33-23.
“In the first half, turnovers really hurt us,” said Comets coach Ryan Garvin “I felt like we played some pretty good defensive series to put ourselves in good position, but we turned it over 11 times in that half and gave back lots of scoring opportunities.”
Battle Lake hit 8-26 from beyond the arc in the game while Hillcrest was just 1-20.
“I was proud of the energy and effort from our boys. We fought and clawed, but it wasn't enough,” stated Garvin. “Battle Lake did everything they needed to do to win. Their boys played a solid game on both ends of the court.”
Justin Peterson led the Comets with 14 points, Sean Berge had 12 and Noah Brumfield provided 11. Preston Berge and Peterson each had six rebounds.
“After giving up 40 to Brumfield in the first game our guys took it to heart to hold him in check,” observed Battlers coach Brady Cameron. “Our defense was phenomenal all night from all five guys on the court. We held them to one three and that came with 45 seconds left in the game. Offensively we had to adapt as Hillcrest played many different defenses against us but we adapted well.”
Jack Mekalson had a game high 23 points for Battle Lake. He also had eight rebounds and six assists. Owen Buehler finished with a double-double, 18 points and 12 rebounds. Bradyn Roisum also had a double-double (10 points and 10 rebounds).
Battle Lake improved to 20-4 overall and 14-2 in LEC play. They are on the road on Feb. 24, at Bertha-Hewitt.
Hillcrest fell to 18-5 and 12-3 in conference play. They are also in action on Feb. 24, visiting Lake-Park Audubon.
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