Glen Lake boys faced Traverse City St. Francis in a district semifinal, knocking off the Gladiators 63-39.
A dominant second half on both sides of the court helped the Lakers pull away from the Gladiators. Glen Lake (16-5) scored 14 in the third and 23 in the fourth quarters, outscoring St. Francis by 13 points in the half.
Laker senior Jacob Plamondon scored most of his points during this stretch.
“Their main goal was definetly try to shut me down,” Plamondon said. “I kept my composure, kept my cool most of the game and ended with only one or two fouls.”
The Lakers got out to an early lead with Laker junior Dominic Stein scoring eight of the team’s first 13 points.
This helped the Lakers jump out to a 17-point lead in the first half, but St. Francis fought back to cut it to nine at the break.
“(Plamondon) has been dealing with extra coverage all year,” Lakers coach Jason Bradford said. “When you have Jacob on the floor, everybody else should plug into a hole because they got two guys on him.”
Stein scored his most points in a game this season with 17.
“I was definitely shooting the ball more than normal because they were shutting down Jacob,” Stein said. “I found a chance to take my shots and I was hitting, so I was feeling good.”
Glen Lake coach Jason Bradford said he had gotten on Stein’s case all week since the McBain matchup, as Stein and the team struggled to follow through and put points on the board.
Laker sophomore Max Lamerson added to the offense with 19 points and junior Toby Bradford scored five. Plamondon earned a double-double along with his 22 points; he also had 10
rebounds. Lamerson grabbed eight rebounds, Stein had seven, Toby Bradford had six and Breckin Nerg had three.. Hazelton had five assists.
Glen Lake moves on to play Elk Rapids in the district championship Friday at 7 p.m., hosted by the Elks.
The Lakers fell to Elk Rapids at home, 64-44, in December, in the first game of the season.
