Then, in the fourth quarter, with the Lakes’ up 44-38, they started breaking through by getting the ball to Ty Hughes, who capitalized with ten points in the quarter to help lead Des Lacs-Burlington to a 61-48 win.

Hughes finished with a career-high 21 points, and teammate Jake Schaefter also scored 20 to pace the Lakers. Turtle Mountain’s Gunner Zerr led all scorers with 26, including 20 in the second half.

Hughes also came up with a monster block late in the fourth-quarter to keep momentum with the Lakers.

“I found myself open, because my teammates are so good,” said Hughes. “They just give some mismatches we can take advantage of. Nobody’s in better shape than us, so I was able to get some mismatches on me and make some tough shots.”

The game was very much a tale of quarters with Des Lacs-Burlington dominating the even quarters, but the odd ones going to Turtle Mountain.

The Braves opened up a two point lead after a back and forth first quarter, in which both teams struggled with turnovers on account of each team’s defensive pressure. Hughes got to work in the second quarter scoring nine points to go along with Schaefer’s five as the Lakers outscored the Braves 18-4 to take a 31-19 lead into halftime.

The third quarter was a different story, as Zerr erupted for 13 points to help the Braves cut the Lakers’ lead in half heading into the fourth, when Des Lacs-Burlington was able to put the game away.

“It was a great team win,” said Des Lacs-Burlington boys’ basketball head coach Chris Brown. “We’ve picked each other up when needed, got defensive stops when we needed; but, tip their hat. They didn’t go away the entire game. They made big shot after big shot. But we executed down the stretch really well.”

In addition to Hughes’ and Schaeffer’s big night, Paxton Ystaas scored eight points for the Lakers, while Jace Crockett finished with five, Brayden Fisher with four and Colton Feller with three.

Zell was joined on Turtle Mountain’s scoresheet by Sheldon Williams, who also reached double figures with ten points. Other Braves scoring were: Braylen DeCoteau, six; Kael Davis, four; and Landon DeCoteau, two.

The loss drops Turtle Mountain to 3-12 on the season. They will host Bottineau on Thursday.

Des Lacs-Burlington improves to 12-3 on the year, but Brown still feels his squad has plenty of growth in them before the Region 3 tournament the first week in March.

“We still have some ways to go,” said Brown. “We rebounded better tonight, but we have to clean some things up and execute a little better offensively. That said, you don’t want to be playing your best yet. We have about a month and then we want to be playing our best basketball.”

The Lakers will host Rugby on Thursday.