Lake Linden-Hubbell's Josh Daavettila (left) blocks out Ewen-Trout Creek's Cameron Logghe (right) under the hoop during a game Tuesday at the Lake Linden High School gym. (Eddie O’Neill/For the Gazette)

LAKE LINDEN — The Lake Linden-Hubbell boys basketball team started the season off on the right foot on Tuesday. They defeated the visiting Ewen-Trout Creek Panthers, 59-52, and with the win are already halfway to matching their total wins of last season.

“You could tell we were a little nervous at first,” said Lakes coach Brett Poissant. “It was opening night. But, I liked how we handled their pressure in the second half; that made a difference.”

The Panthers won the first seven minutes, 11-9. However, the Lakes came back to win the second quarter, 16-12, and had a 25-23 lead at half.

Coming out of the half, the Panthers picked up the pace. Offensively, they regained the lead at 26-25 thanks to an opening third quarter 3-pointer by Cooper Moilanen.

“I liked our effort. We were scrambling around like crazy,” stated Panthers coach Brad Besonen. “We were going after 50/50 balls and trying to score off of transition. I am happy with the effort, and we are off to a good start.”

The boys in black pushed ahead to a 39-36 lead, only to have the Lakes tie it at 39 and 41 to close out the third.

The fourth was the difference-maker in the game, and it belonged to the Lakes.

“We were aggressive and not afraid to shoot,” Poissant said. “We took the ball to the basket and found some nice buckets.”

The Lakes led by as many as six with 90 seconds to go in the game and closed it out with the seven-point advantage.

Blake Lebo led the Lakes in scoring with 29 points. Just six of those points came from 3-pointers. He also made five free throws.

Josh Daavettila followed with 18. He was 7-8 from the free-throw line.

“Blake gets the game ball,” noted his coach. “He really stepped it up in the fourth, and that was key for us.”

Brody Majurin led the scoring for the Panthers with 26 points. That included five triples for the sophomore. Fellow classmate Moilanen followed with 14 points.

Up next

The Lakes will face the Houghton Gremlins on Monday, Dec. 8, at Houghton. The Panthers will welcome Ontonagon to their gym on Thursday, Dec. 11.