When a team loses a heartbreaker, it can either send them into a tailspin or motivate them to prove they are better than their record.

Following an overtime loss to rival Fryeburg Academy, the Lake Region boys couldn’t wait for their next chance to play.

“The guys took the Fryeburg loss pretty hard. As a coach, you like to see that. You want to see how much kids care. They understood they let one slip away, and were willing to listen and learn and get better the next day at practice,” Laker Coach Ryan Martin said. “The good thing was we had another game on Saturday. There was no time to dwell on it, we were on to the next one.”

Early on, it appeared the Lakers planned to take out their frustrations against an undersized Traip Academy team.

With center Evan Willey scoring eight points, the Lakers shot out to a 13-2 lead. Dominating the glass, the Lakers kept rolling in the second frame showing good ball movement and knocking down open shots as Isaac Holland came off the bench to drain a 3-pointer en route to a 7-point quarter.

Up 30-13 at the half and 43-28 after three, it appeared the Lakers would cruise to an easy win.

Not so fast.

Traip’s gritty and speedy guards found open holes in the Lakers’ defensive coverage and turned turnovers into quick points. With under three minutes to go, no LR lead appeared safe as the Rangers kept grinding.

“Some things didn’t go our way and we didn’t play smart at times. A good team like Traip, if you give them second or third chances, they’re going to make it a game. They also have some quick guards, who are difficult to stay in front of,” Coach Martin said.

Even the scorekeeping didn’t go the Lakers’ way.

Junior guard Frankie Driscoll came up with a steal, scored a lay-up and added a foul shot to make it 47-39. The officials called a technical on the Lakers, sending Driscoll to the line for a pair of shots. He made one. However, due to some confusion, the Rangers’ side of the scoreboard had 41 points, not 40. Traip added two more foul shots when Treshaun Brown was fouled on a drive, and suddenly, TA was down 47-43 with 2:10 to go.

Painful memories of two nights previously started to surface for the Lakers. Could they make the plays this time down the stretch to secure a victory?

Sophomore Jacob Stone and senior Isaac Holland were rally killers. Ice ran through both players’ veins as they each went 6-for-6 from the foul line as the Lakers escaped with a 59-48 victory.

“We keep talking about how winners put other teams away — keeping that same energy, remembering what got us the lead and stick to it, and keep playing our brand of basketball. I think we try to do a little too much. We go over situations, and as a young group, we’ll keep trying to get better,” Coach Martin said. “Down the stretch when we had to make free throws, we were pretty good. We need to develop a winning mentality and be able to put teams away. We need to realize you need to play with the same energy regardless of the score. You can’t give a team a sniff. If you have them down, you can’t give them a chance to get back into the game. It comes with experience.”

Stat Sheet

Turnovers: LR 21, TA 14

Free Throws: LR 22-33, TA 12-17

Field Goals: LR 19-54, TA 16-46

Rebounds: LR 47 (Willey 14, Langadas 9, Holland 9, Stone 11), TA 17

LR scorers: Liam Grass 1, Evan Willey 14, Jacob Stone 19, Derek Langadas 12, Isaac Holland 13.

Lakers 49, Gray-NG 47: The ball bounced the Lakers’ way Tuesday night.

Liam Grass tipped a missed shot that hit the rim, quickly jumped again to secure the miss, and scored what proved to be the game winner to lift the Lakers past Gray-New Gloucester 49-47.

But like all of their games this season, the Lakers had plenty of drama to contend with over the final couple of minutes.

GNG pulled within a bucket as Nicklaus Kariotis (19 points, 9 rebounds) sank a pair of foul shots with 1:56 left. After a LR turnover, Kariotis returned to the line and missed the front-end of a 1-and-1, but he controlled the rebound. The GNG senior, however, stepped out of bounds.

GNG regained possession, but gave the ball right back on a travel call. LR missed a foul shot with 6.7 seconds left, giving the Patriots a final chance. GNG missed a lay-up try and two offensive putbacks as the buzzer sounded.

“The unique thing about this conference is every single night you have to come to play. If you don’t play well you are going to lose. I think it is great for the tournament because every game you’ve been challenged and you become a better team in the end. We’ve played seven games, and every game has come down to the last few minutes,” Laker Coach Ryan Martin said. “They put the time in watching film and in practice. We’re a young team, and the more you do something, the better you get at it. We’re a team starting to learn what it takes to win close games. I am sure we’re going to have a lot more of them, and hopefully, we get better as the season moves on.”

It was a wild one.

The Patriots scored the final nine points of the first quarter to lead 19-10.

Jacob Stone propelled the Lakers back into the game, netting a 3-pointer and then completing a 3-point play to close the gap to 28-22. GNG responded as Michael Ryan connected on a corner 3-pointer as the Patriots enjoyed a 32-22 lead at the break.

“It was strange because we talked about the importance of starting fast and in the first six games, we had leads in the first quarter. Tonight, we were on the other side of the ball. I liked the way the guys fought back and showed some resiliency at the end,” Coach Martin said. “We came out in the second half and played with more energy. We were motivated. A number of guys weren’t happy at halftime with the way they had played. I told them they needed to make a statement during the first couple of minutes. We came out ready to play.”

LR turned things around by dominating the glass and taking care of the basketball. After committing 18 turnovers in the opening half, LR had just four in the third quarter. They out rebounded GNG 14-6.

Noah Duprey buried a 3-pointer to give LR a 33-32 lead halfway through the period. Evan Willey showed some nifty footwork to spin past Patriot defenders for a pair of buckets to end the third, putting LR up 39-36.

GNG rallied to tie the game when the Laker defense slacked a bit as Patriot guards were able to get free runs to the rim.

“Sometimes, we like to gamble and make a steal when we’re in our pressure defense. We have to play solid, and only go for the steal if you know you can get it. If you can’t get it, you put yourself and team in a bad spot,” Coach Martin said.

Grass and Derek Langadas searched out high percentage shots, driving past their defenders to the rim for short range buckets and a 45-43 lead.

“The last 2 ½ minutes of the game, we did a great job running our offense and being strong with the ball. I was pleased with that. We took a couple of 3s, not by our top 3-point shooters, which I didn’t like with three to four minutes left. That’s something we’ll talk about tomorrow,” Coach Martin said. “What is special about this team is they don’t mind if I come out and tell them who should be shooting 3s at that point of the game. They understand their roles. They understand who are the best shooters on the team. They just want to win. Sometimes, a good shot for someone isn’t a good shot for someone else.”

Better decisions and gritty play down the stretch (as well as a little luck) enabled the Lakers to secure a big win.

“Right now we have seven guys playing consistently on the floor, but we have other guys who are pushing them in practice and we have guys that are ready to go whenever their number gets called. You never know. There may be a guy who gets hurt one game or sick one day or gets in foul trouble. Those guys know they need to be ready,” Coach Martin added. “It’s really a 13-man team, not just the seven guys that are playing. Everybody needs to be ready every night.”

LR stat line

Scoring: Liam Grass 8, Evan Willey 16, Derek Langadas 7, Jacob Stone 8, Isaac Holland 7, Noah Duprey 3.

Rebounds: Willey 11, Stone 8, Langadas 7, Duprey 2, Grass 7, Holland 4, Ethan McMurray 2. LR 41, GNG 29

FT: LR 7-14, GNG 16-23

FG: LR 19-50, GNG 13-47