Small things haunt Jays in loss to Niagara

It came down to the small things as the Three Lakes boys basketball team fell 69-55 in a nonconference matchup against Niagara Jan. 3 at Three Lakes High School.
Playing with a faster pace, and the struggle of rebounding, hurt the Jays as the Badgers took advantage of extra possessions in the game.
Freshman Easton Lurvey led Three Lakes in scoring again with 19 points in the loss. Levi Lurvey and Peyton Pitlik each tallied 11, while Pitlik notched a double-double with 11 rebounds as well.
“This game came down to rebounding like every other loss we had this year; we have been working on rebounding and boxing out at every practice for weeks, but it seems to still haunt us every game. Niagara had 15 more rebounds than us in this game (45 to 30),” said THL head coach George Lurvey. “Our other downfall was that we got caught up in playing too fast of a pace, giving Niagara too many possessions and not getting the best looks on our offensive possessions. Niagara is a very good team that will likely win their conference, but we certainly did not play our best basketball in this matchup.”
A slow start offensively led to Niagara grabbing an early advantage.

Lurvey (Easton) hit an early 3-pointer to lead 3-2 before the Badgers went on a 10-0 spurt to lead 12-3 about halfway through the first half.
A few steals and fast break opportunities for senior Eli Erickson added some points on the board, while Niagara kept answering to keep a 28-13 lead late in the first. It ended up being a 31-16 deficit for the Jays at the break. Many role players for the Badgers stepped up after Three Lakes held their best player with just five first-half points.
“Our concentration for this game defensively was to slow down their stud player, Tommy Martin,” stated Lurvey. “Owen Liebscher was assigned to that task and did an exceptional job holding him to five points in the first half and 12 points total. However, their role players picked up the slack and made some big shots for them.”
The team came out of the break with some fire and cut the lead down to six, 33-27, with 13:04 left to play.
A lay-in by Liebscher and another 3-pointer by Lurvey (Easton) cut the lead down to five, 37-32. Three Lakes was held to just four points over the next few minutes and the deficit ballooned back up to 15 with about seven minutes to play.
With a 3-5 (1-1) record, the Jays return to Northern Lakes Conference play for the first game of a back-to-back this Thursday, Jan. 9, with a road game at Laona-Wabeno at 7:15 p.m. They will then travel to Hurley Friday, Jan. 10, for a noncon game starting at 7:15 p.m. as well.