LAKE CITY – The focus during leisure time was on team basketball.

That’s exactly what they did.

Lake City got off to a strong start, winning a 78-37 win over Farwell in a non-conference boys basketball competition Monday night.

Trojan’s coach Brad Besko was pleased with the selflessness and approach of his team.

“It’s a really good team win,” he said.

“We moved the ball well, we made the extra pass, we were selfless… that’s so good for a team win that we played as a team.

“We preached that.”

Lake City was leading by 22:10 after the first quarter and had a sovereign 52:26 lead at halftime. With 74:33 it went into the fourth quarter.

Brady Becker reached the Trojans with 18 points, five rebounds and three steals, while Oakley Barger scored 16 points, eight rebounds, two steals and two assists.

Gavin Bisballe had 10 points, three rebounds, three steals and two assists while Darin Kunkel added 10 points and three rebounds.

AJ VanDuinen had seven points, six steals and six assists; Noah Keway six points and four rebounds; Brody Gotthard five points and five rebounds; and Rowland Ball four points and four rebounds.

Lake City (3-1 overall) host Beal City on Wednesday.

BEAL CITY – A short stretch made the effort fail.

Manton played well most of the time, but bouts towards the end of the third quarter cost the Rangers a 52-46 loss to Beal City in a Highland Conference competition.

“I thought our team played with a lot of intensity for two and a half quarters and we played well most of the time,” said Manton manager Ryan Hiller.

“You ran a run at the end of the third race that broke our backs a bit.

“We just didn’t do the little things there at the end of the third quarter to give ourselves a chance to win.”

Beal City was leading 17:14 after the first quarter before Manton was leading 28:27 at halftime. The aggies were 46-39 prior to the fourth quarter.

Despite the loss, Hiller saw positives.

“We did a great job moving the ball with a couple of kids who weren’t on the line-up,” he said.

“I was very proud of that.”

Luke Puffer went up on Rangers with 22 points while Noah Morrow added eight.

Nolan Moffit and Jakob Kuhn each had five.

Manton (2-3 total) receives Kalkaska today.

LAKEVIEW – Pine River took advantage of a fourth quarter rise to beat Lakeview 46-40 in a non-conference girls basketball competition.

The Bucks were 30:26 behind, moving into the fourth quarter but bringing the ball more to Hailey Wanstead and it paid off.

Wanstead scored 10 of their team-leading 16 points in the last eight minutes of the game.

“They played with a defense the whole time and we didn’t shoot well,” said Pine Rivers coach Paula Justin.

“We put Hailey down in fourth place and it worked.”

Wanstead also grabbed eight rebounds. Avery Sumpter had seven points while Madi Sparks added seven points and five rebounds.

Lainey Sparks had six points while Amanda Hill scored five.

Pine River (3-3) will host McBain on Thursday.