It was the end of the 2025-26 regular season for boys basketball teams around Wisconsin this week, where the Three Lakes boys’ basketball team split two games. The team lost 89-70 at Mellen Monday, then won a 71-65 home game against Flambeau Thursday in the regular-season finale.
The Bluejays will start their playoff push next Tuesday as the No. 3 seed in the D5 sectional 2. They will welcome No. 14 Marion to Three Lakes.
Head Coach George Lurvey was proud of the way the team fought through some early adversity against Flambeau and closed the game despite some hiccups near the end. “I was happy with the overall performance. I wasn’t extremely pleased with how we closed it out. I think we panicked and had a lot of turnovers, but we’re a relatively young team, so just getting the win was a huge deal for us,” stated Lurvey after the win.
Three Lakes trailed by nearly double digits early on as the Falcons came out on fire, but the Bluejays settled into the game as the first half moved along. By the 10-minute-to-go mark, it was back to a 19-18 deficit before Three Lakes caught fire from beyond the arc. Sophomore Easton Lurvey hit a triple to go ahead 21-19. A few possessions later, sophomore Sam Koshuta drilled a 3-pointer to make it 24-21. Three Lakes led 28-21 until Flambeau got back within two, 28-26, late in the half. Three Lakes coasted into halftime on a 7-1 run to lead 35-27. “I thought maybe that was going to get out of control in a hurry, but the kids do a really good job at digging in,” Coach Lurvey said on the slow start and response. “Just one stop and move on, and next thing you know, I think it only took a minute and a half or something, and we were tied up, or we had the lead.”
The second half was a physical basketball game, with both teams finishing well over the double bonus mark by the end of the half.
Coach Lurvey said it was a good test on their home floor, and it felt like a playoff atmosphere. “It was kind of a playoff atmosphere. A great test for us getting ready for regionals,” he explained.
Three Lakes held onto the lead in the second half, extending the game to 43-35 with 12 minutes to go after Zach Weavers hit a turnaround jumper at the elbow. The Bluejays would get a good two or three-possession lead and look like they would put the Flacons away, but the visitors kept it close for the remainder of the game. With just less than five minutes to go, free throws came into play as both teams looked to get the ball into the paint.
Three Lakes ended up shooting 27 free throws on the night and made 12 of them for 44%. Coach Lurvey said the team had a short conversation in the locker room at halftime after celebrating Easton’s 1,000-point milestone, and he said one thing was said to the team. “We didn’t go in the locker room long. The one thing that was mentioned or screamed was our free-throw shooting,” he mentioned. “We actually shoot better than that normally; we had an off night tonight. We’re going to work and shoot a lot of them.”
Offensively, Lurvey finished his night with 27 points on 10-22 shooting. He finished 5/7 from the free-throw line. Senior Levi Lurvey had 14 points on 5/13 shooting. Coach talked about one of his seniors after the game.
“Levi played a great game, not just because he made some shots, but a lot of really good assists and finds,” Coach Lurvey stated.
Owen Liebscher finished with 11 points and eight assists in the victory.
The team shot 44% from the field and nearly 32% from the 3-point line.
Mellen loss
The Bluejays traveled on the road for the first of two nonconference games last week, with Mellen being the first opponent. The Jays fell by 19 in the contest, but had a decent offensive output. The team knocked down 26/63 shots on the night for 41%, while knocking down 30% of their 3-point attempts. Three Lakes also went 11/18 from the free-throw line. Despite the loss, sophomore Easton Lurvey hit the 1,000 career points milestone with his 17-point performance. He also had seven rebounds.
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