Lakers get past Chieftains in non-conference action

The Lakers had a 14-point second half lead dissipate to a mere three points before a pair of Joel Humphrey threes pushed the lead to nine and the Lakers rolled to a 71-56 win over the Lake Holcombe Chieftains Friday night on the home floor.
The game began with the Chieftains jumping out to a 10-5 lead as the Lakers struggled finding the range. Brendan Strenke knocked down a two, and after Lake Holcombe’s Kaden Crank responded with a two, Cody Hassel hit one from the paint and Lucas Torgerson followed up with a pair of charity tosses, pulling to within one. Crank stopped the run for the Chieftains with a deuce before Strenke converted a putback and Torgerson followed with a three. Strenke knocked down one of two tosses and the Lakers were on top 17-14, midway through the half.
Josh Jones’ three knotted the game up at 17-17. The Lakers responded with nine unanswered, led by Casey Kahl’s deuce and three, for a 26-17 advantage.
Colton Minnick hit a two for Lake Holcombe to stop the Laker run. Togerson responded with a pair of freethrows and a two. Kahl added a layin before Jarred Jiskra hit a two for the Chieftains, sending the teams into the intermission with the Lakers on top 32-22.
Torgerson led the second half off with a slamming dunk, bringing the faithful to their feet. Hassel followed with a pair of freethrows and the Lakers enjoyed their largest lead of the night, 36-22.
The lead was still fourteen, 40-26, when Strenke hit his second second-half jumper. That’s when the Chieftains found another gear and went on an 18-7 run, cutting the Laker advantage to three, 47-44, with nine minutes to go.
Humphrey’s two threes pushed the lead back to nine and the Lakers were not threatened again. Humphrey would add two more threes and the Lakers would close out the game on a 24-12 run to earn the 15-point win.
Lucas Torgerson led a balanced Laker scoring attack with 17 points. Brendan Strenke followed with 16 while Joel Humphrey and Casey Kahl added 14 each.
Brock Flater led Lake Holcombe with 13. Kaden Kinney had 12 while Kaden Crank chipped in 11.
The Lakers traveled to Luck Monday evening. They will be on the road to St. Croix Falls Thursday for their regular season finale. On Tuesday, March 3 they play host to the Gilman Pirates in opening round of WIAA Regional action.
The Lakers drew a #4-seed for the Division 5 tournament and will play host to the #13-seeded Gilman Pirates. The winner of that contest will meet the winner of the #5 Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran vs #12 Owen-Withee game Friday, March 6.