Lake Linden-Hubbell’s Hunter Moyle lines up a free throw during a game against Watersmeet Thursday at the Lake Linden-Hubbell Gym. (Eddie O’Neill/Daily Mining Gazette)

LAKE LINDEN — In high school basketball, at the end of the night, usually the team that scores more baskets is the winner. Thursday, that is exactly what happened at the Lake Linden-Hubbell Gym as the visiting Watersmeet Nimrods outscored the Lake Linden-Hubbell Lakes, 67-55.

According to Lakes coach Brett Poissant, it is tough to win games when a team’s shots do not fall.

“It was one of those nights where we had the shots, but the ball would not fall for us,” said Poissant.

Poissant admitted that another consistent issue for his team reared its head again.

“Turnovers have also become a problem for us, as we saw again tonight,” he said. “A bad pass, a travel, and a three-second violation turns into a basket for the other team.”

Despite being down by six, 24-18, after one, the Lakes (8-4) went on an eight-point run to get within two points, 34-32, at half.

It got even better in the third as they took the lead at the 2:45 mark.

With the Nimrods (9-3) up by two at, 42-40, Matt Len sunk a three-pointer to make it a 43-42 Lakes’ lead. However, it was a short-lived one as Poissant was quick to point out.

“We had the lead, but we turned it over, and they came back and hit a three and we couldn’t get back into this one,” he said. “That was the turning point in this one.”

Hitting that three for the Nimrods was Asher Garrison. It was one of six triples for the junior, who led the scoring with 24 points. He was followed by Tyson Klingman who had 15 points. Brandon Romanesko sunk 11.

For the Lakes, Len and Gabe Popko both had season-highs of 18 points each.

“Composure was the key to victory tonight,” said Watersmeet coach George Peterson III. “It is not always there as we’ve been up and then lost games due to lack of composure. We’ve wanted to win a track meet, instead of playing smart like we did tonight.”

He added that defense was another key.

“The boys defended well the whole game,” he said. “I was obviously pleased with that. It was a good game all around.”

Up next

The Lakes will welcome the Baraga Vikings to their gym on Tuesday, Jan. 31.

Scoring

WHS 26 8 15 19 – 67

LLH 18 14 13 10 – 55

WMH – Shively 8, Garrison 24, Caron 2, Klingman 15, Romanesko 11.

LLH – Len 18, Popko 18, Holzberger 7, Moyle 3, Jokela 9.