By Brenda Erdahl
Sports Editor
The Maple Lake boys basketball team clinched its second win of the season and came close to winning a third last week.
The Irish claimed a decisive 68-56 win at home over the North Lakes Academy to start the week and ended it with a heartbreaking, 58-56 loss to St. John’s Prep.
Partway through the week they faced Kimball and fell 82-49.
Maple Lake 68, North Lakes Academy 56
The Irish hosted North Lake Academy on Tuesday, Feb. 13 and were up 10 points halfway through what coach Bryan Schleif described as a back-and-forth battle. The second half was more of the same to start. The Irish opened on a 13-3 run to claim a 24-point lead before the Huskies whittled it away down to the 12 where it ended.
“Our guys came out strong and set the tone on our home floor,” Schleif said. “They were able to increase our lead and hold it at the end.”
The Irish shot a season high 46 percent from the floor and 38 percent from behind the arc.
“It felt great to get our second win of the season,” Schleif said.
Maple Lake 49, Kimball 82
The Irish traveled to Kimball on Thursday, Feb. 15 and had success breaking the Cub’s press, but couldn’t finish near the basket.
The Irish kept it competitive through most of the game, getting to within 18 at one point, but Kimball went on a run late in the game to pull ahead for good.
Maple Lake 56, St. John’s Prep 58
Maple Lake was ahead most of the game despite shooting woes and foul trouble. Up 18-10 midway through the first half, St. John’s chipped away at the Irish lead to claim a 22-21 edge at the break. The Irish got into more foul trouble in the second half, but Lane Faue came off the bench and helped to keep the Irish in the game. St. John’s increased it’s lead to 58-50 with 19.6 left on the clock. In the final seconds, Walton and Manzanedo hit key three pointers to come within two points.
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