St. Mary remained the team to beat in the Cherryland Conference Friday with an entertaining Homecoming win over visiting Northport - but not without a struggle.

The Eagles improved to 4-0 in the four-team Cherryland with two conference games on tap that could seal the title. They play at Leelanau School Friday, and travel to Traverse City Christian Monday.

“I feel good to be where we are at,” said Eagles coach Jim Smith. “When we play as a team, we play well.”

The same might be said of Northport, which led most of the way in the packed St. Mary gym until Eagle Matt Pasch hit a clutch 3-point shot to tie the game at 54 during regulation.

Pasch, who scored a career-high 24 points, stayed hot with four more points in overtime as the Eagles prevailed, 65-59. The senior scored seven of St. Mary’s final 14 points.

“He was the difference in the game,” said Northport coach Jeff Tropf. “You don’t see many kids who have the ability to keep their composure under pressure, and have all the basic skills.”

Ryan Korson added 10 points for St. Mary, with Kienan Sutton scoring 9.

Basil Stowe had his second best scoring night with 18 points, with Jesse Bressette right behind with 17. They combined for 14 points in the first quarter as Northport at first stayed even with St. Mary, then built 33-27 and 45-41 leads after second and third quarters had been played. Shane Detweiler added 9 points for the Wildcats.

“It was a tremendous game,” said Tropf, whose team slipped to 7-9 overall. “We played well, they played well.”

Smith returned the compliment: “We thought we were facing a different team during the Northport game Friday. There has been a 100 percent improvement since we faced them earlier this season.”

St. Mary prevailed at Northport on Jan. 11, 47-35.

St. Mary evened its overall record to 8-8 Tuesday with a 64-46 victory over the Traverse City Bulldogs, a home-schooled team. Ryan Couturier lead the Eagles with 13 points. Adam Peplinski added 11 while Sutton and Tim Wigton had 10 apiece.

Leelanau School improved to 3-5 overall with a 60-31 win over Traverse City Prep Tuesday night.

The Thunderbirds led 23-19 at the half and held Prep to just 4 points in the third period with a full-court press. Leelanau coach Jim Douglas did not provide other players statistics.

Northport will host Christian Friday. The Thunderbirds travel to Northport Tuesday.