“Tonight’s game was a fun battle with Hillcrest," said Battle Lake Head Coach Brady Cameron.  "After giving up 40 to Brumfield in the 1st game, our guys took it to heart to hold him in check tonight.  Our defense was phenomenal all night from all 5 guys on the court but Mason, Jacob, and Drew were the main guys guarding their scorers tonight and they did a phenomenal job making them take tough contested shots.  We held them to 1-20 from the 3pt line and that 3 came with 45 seconds left in the game. Offensively we had to adapt as Hillcrest played many different defenses against us but we adapted well and hit 3 big 3’s before half that gave us momentum coming out of it.  We had a few too many turnovers but luckily they didn’t hurt us tonight."

Jack Mekalson (23 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals, 1 block) and Owen Buehler (18 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists) led the Battlers.  Bradyn Roisum also added a double double (10 points, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks) and Drew Johnson finished with 9 points.

“It was a battle in Battle Lake tonight,” exclaimed Hillcrest Head Coach Ryan Garvin.  “I told Coach Cameron that it feels like the Battle Lake versus Hillcrest rivalry is back!  In the first half, turnovers really hurt us.  I felt like we played some pretty good defensive series’ to put ourselves in good positions, but we turned it over 11 times in that half and gave back lots of scoring opportunities.  Their lead was only one with around two minutes left, but three huge 3’s to close out the half extended their lead to ten points.  In the second half, we were able to get some good looks and a number of stops, but couldn’t string together enough of them to truly claw back. Battle also hit 8-of-26 3’s and we only converted on 1-of-20 from beyond the arc.  Hard to comeback from a deficit when you shoot like that.”

Justin Peterson finished with 14 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists.  Sean Berge netted 12 and pulled down 4 rebounds.  Noah Brumfield finished with 11 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists.  Luke Christensen had 9 points and 5 rebounds, and Preston Berge added 6 points and 6 boards.

Battle Lake stats will be added once they are received.

The Battlers (20-4, 14-2 LEC) go on the road to face Bertha-Hewitt on Friday.

Hillcrest (18-5, 12-3 LEC) goes to Wheaton Thursday to face Border West and will face Lake Park-Audubon on Friday in a non-conference road game.