The Three Lakes boys basketball split a pair of games last week, losing to Lakeland in a non-conference matchup on the road and then returning home to defeat Elcho.

In Minocqua, the home Thunderbirds came out of the gates on fire, building a 16-point halftime lead on their way to a 69-49 win.

Both teams shot relatively well from the field, Three Lakes going 19-of-45 and Lakeland going 29-of-62, but in the end the 17 more offensive attempts were too much for the visiting Bluejays to overcome in the loss.

Will Fortier caused some problems for the Bluejays defense as he ended the night with 23 points on 10-of-20 shooting to lead all scorers. Three Lakes got 16 off the right hand of Ashton Maney who was 7-of-14 on the night including 2-of-4 from the three-point line. He was followed by Toby Volkmann with 10, Logan Erickson and Sam Eppler with seven each, Jared Kaufman with four, Cole Melton with three and Josh Cogar with two.

Kaufman also had five assists and four rebounds while Melton had a team-high seven rebounds.

Following the Monday loss on the road, the team returned home Friday and defeated conference foe Elcho by a score of 70-53.

Sam Eppler had a big night for Three Lakes as he led all scorers with 20 points to go along with six rebounds and two blocks. He was 7-of-13 overall from the field and a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line. As a team, Three Lakes went 20-of-24 from the charity stripe.

Eppler was followed by a 15-point, 15-rebound performance from Kaufman who also added four assists and five steals. Maney added 11 points to go along with 13 from Erickson. Melton chipped in with eight points while Volkmann rounded out the scoring with three.

Three Lakes will be home this week for a pair of games, first taking on Gresham Tuesday. That will be followed by another Northern Lakes Conference (NLC) matchup as Crandon comes to town Thursday. Both those games are scheduled for a 7:15 p.m. start.

Laona-Wabeno holds the top spot in the NLC standings yet with a 6-0 mark. They are followed by Florence (5-1), Goodman-Pembine (3-1), Three Lakes (1-3), Elcho (1-6) and Crandon (0-5).