Battle Lake had an 11 point lead late in the first half, but some mistakes led to some easy baskets for Brandon-Evansville and the Chargers found themselves leading by one at the half.  In the second half, Battle Lake came out hot and got the lead back, however, it was a back and forth battle that saw the Chargers with a 6 point lead with just a few minutes to play.

"Tonight was another one of those grind it out LEC games,” noted Battle Lake Head Coach Brady Cameron.  “We had guys step up in key situations tonight on both ends of the floor with getting big defensive stops and hitting some key shots.  Every single night this year we have given the opponents best player to Mason Dalluge to guard and he has done an absolutely fantastic job with those assignments.  People will look at the box scores and see he hasn't scored a lot in some games but they don't realize what he does for this team on the defensive end. Tonight he had 10 rebounds, 3 steals, and 4 blocks to go with his 7 points.  Aidan Buehler didn't score tonight but he had 3 big rebounds and 5 assists on the night and helped get those defensive stops when we needed them.  We have been on the road a lot in the last 2 weeks but we are excited to be back in our gym next week for 2 key LEC matchups with Underwood and Border West."

Jack Mekalson made 12-of-20 (60%) field goal attempts and finished with a game high 28 points, while dishing out 6 assists.  Braxtyn Cameron made 6 3’s on the way to a 25 point night.  He also had 8 rebounds and 3 assists.

Brandon-Evansville placed 3 players in double figures, led by 21 from Micah Fuller (9 rebounds, 2 assists), 17 from Tanner Riedel  and 16 from Riley Perleberg (15 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals).  Dustin Gillespie had 5 rebounds and a game high 7 assists.

“The gym was packed and it was a great high school basketball game,” said Brandon-Evansville Head Coach Trent Hintermeister. “The lead went back and forth throughout the night. We had an opportunity to run an inbounds play with 10 seconds left in the game and I didn't draw up a good one. After a missed Battle Lake free throw we got the rebound and were able to get a shot up at the buzzer but it didn't go in. Both teams played hard and I know games like this are what make teams better come playoff time.” 

Brandon-Evansville (10-8, 7-4 LEC) has a home game with Rothsay on Tuesday and a road game at Underwood on Friday.