The Lake Leelanau boys basketball team knows how to start the new year off right. The Eagles defeated Frankfort (5-2) and Bear Lake on Friday and Monday.
The Eagles welcomed the Frankfort Panthers into town Friday.
In a surprise turn of events, the Eagles came back down nine points in the fourth quarter to claim the victory in upset fashion.
“We picked up our energy and intensity in that fourth quarter,” St. Mary senior Luke Bramer said.
St. Mary and Frankfort jabbed back and forth throughout the first quarter, as Frankfort took a 13-8 lead into the second quarter. St. Mary retook the lead halfway through the second quarter with a 16-14 lead before Frankfort fought back to take a two-point lead into halftime, 21-19.
Frankfort controlled the third quarter and took a nine-point lead going into the fourth quarter, 37-28.
That’s when the comeback was on for St. Mary.
The Eagles slowly fought back from down 37-33 to 36-37. The game was tied 39-39 in the fourth quarter before Cody Couturier made a lead change with a nifty hook shot in the paint to go up 41-39.
The Eagles scored 23 points in the fourth quarter after being down nine.
“We just started knocking down shots because our backs were against the wall, and we knew we had to do something to get back in the game,” Couturier said. “We’re gonna take that confidence into these next coming games.”
The Eagles scored 23 points in the fourth quarter for its best quarter of the season.
“We finally found our rhythm on offense, and we’re finally starting to put up big numbers. We just have to keep executing on offense, and we’ll get great shots,” Bramer said. “It’s just been our intensity. If we come out good, talk it all out, and communicate with each other, then we’ve been very good on the defensive side.”
Bramer led the Eagles with 14 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists; Couturier 14 points, 7 rebounds; Josh Bunek 8 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists; junior Oliver Mitchell 9 points, 3 rebounds.
Rex Bunek and Luke Bramer were standouts on defense.
The Eagles had to break Frankfort’s high ball screen offense and earn points from the free-throw line to make it happen.
Eagles defeat Bear Lake
Lake Leelanau St. Mary boys basketball defeated Bear Lake Lakers 58-50 on Monday to notch its second win of the new year.
The Eagles fell 13-9 to Bear Lake halfway through the first quarter to go into the second quarter with a 19-11 lead.
St. Mary went on a 9-0 run to get back into the game and take the lead in the second half, 31-26. The Eagles jumped up to as many as 13 in the third quarter before Bear Lake went on a run of its own to go into the fourth quarter down 45-36.
Bear Lake crawled back to being down five and then three points (52-47) with less than a minute remaining. The Eagles closed out the game from the free-throw line to continue their hot start in 2025.
Josh Bunek made seven 3-pointers against Bear Lake for a career-high in three-point field goals and points.
“It feels amazing, I’ve never shot like that before in my life,” Bunek said. “It should propel us up towards where we want to go, which is towards the regional. I know it’s still going be tough because we’re not the biggest team or the deepest bench, but from what we’ve seen, if we keep our defense consistent, we can make things happen.”
Bunek had 25 points along with 5 rebounds; Bramer 17 points, 6 rebounds, 10 assists, and 4 steals; Couturier 8 points and 6 rebounds; Mitchell 4 points and 7 rebounds.
The Eagles are 7-2 and welcome Leland Wednesday, Jan. 15 at 7 p.m.
