St. Mary and Traverse City Christian will meet Friday in a game that might go a long way in determining the eventual Cherryland Conference winner in boys' basketball.

St. Mary improved its overall record to 3-6 this week and captured a win in its Cherryland Conference opener with a 47-35 decision over Northport Friday.

Christian, meanwhile, has two wins over Leelanau School. Northport is 1-1 in conference play.

The Eagles’ conference record will be tested Friday when St. Mary travels to T-C Christian.

Sparked by eight points by Kienan Sutton and 5 of Matt Pasch’s 7 points for the night, the Eagles led 13-10 after one quarter. St. Mary’s added 13 points more in the second period to take a slim 26-22 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The Eagles broke loose with a 17-point third period to go up 43-27.

“Obviously, we talked about a few things at half time,” St. Mary coach Jim Smith said. “We had a balanced scoring attack.”

Senior Ryan Korson topped the scoring at nine points, which included “a couple of very good, long driving lay-ups,” coach Smith said.

Smith's son, Eric, added eight points. Both he and Gabe Gallagher were credited with a strong rebounding effort in the third quarter. Tim Wigton had seven points.

Northport coach Jeff Tropf praised the tenacity of St. Mary’s defense, which forced 30 turnovers. “In the third quarter, they came right out and took it to us,” said Tropf. “It was a good Cherryland game in that it was real competitive all the way through.”

Northport was paced by 14 points from Jessie Bressette and 8 from Basil Stowe.

Christian’s second win over the Leelanau School came Friday in Glen Arbor.

“There were a couple weeks we weren’t able to practice,” Leelanau coach Jim Douglas said. “It was pretty rough.”

Chris Omerza led the Thunderbirds in the 70-27 loss with 9 points and 5 boards. Leelanau, 1-3 overall, is hoping to put another win on the board when it travels to the Grand Traverse Academy Tuesday.

Northport slipped to 5-7 overall in a 72-35 loss Tuesday at Glen Lake, which used a 16-point first half effort by Ryan Dyksterhouse to take a 34-18 lead. He finished with 18.

“I really enjoyed Dyksterhouse’s play. We didn’t have an answer for him,” said Tropf. Matt O’Brien added 10 and Will Hendricks 9 for Glen Lake.

Bressette finished with 12 points for Northport, including a pair of 3’s. Basil Stowe added 11 points.

St. Mary and Northport will face full schedules in the coming week.

The Eagles were scheduled to host former Cherryland Conference member, Leland, last night and will host T-C Christian Friday before heading to Buckley Monday. Northport will travel to Alanson, host the home-schooled Traverse City Bulldogs Monday and Buckley next Wednesday, Jan. 23.

Leelanau School will host Grand Traverse Academy Tuesday.