Mason County Eastern falls to Bear Lake 52-42

But, the Cardinals couldn’t get over the hump and eventually lost by 10, 52-42 in the Western Michigan D League contest.

“Our guys came out a little flat tonight, but credit to Bear Lake who played well,” said Eastern head coach Mark Forner. “We tied it up by the third quarter, but our legs were gone by the fourth quarter.

“It is my fault. This is the fourth game our six guys have played in the past seven days, and we just didn’t have any bounce left at the end.”

Bear Lake (5-7 overall, 5-5 WMD) opened up a 10-point lead, 16-6 at the end of the first quarter. The Cardinals regrouped during the break between quarters and outscored the Lakers, 13-9 in the second period to claw back to within six, 25-19 at the half.

Eastern came out on fire in the third period, and pulled into a 34-34 tie with the Lakers entering the fourth with a 15-9 advantage. But the Lakers salted the game away with an 18-8 scoring advantage in the final period.

James Drake and Cody Shoup each scored 13 points to lead the Cardinals, while Wyatt Crawford added 10. Eli Shoup hauled down 13 rebounds and came away with three steals. Drake pulled down eight rebounds and Clay Shoup had seven.

Nate Sanderson led all scorers with 24 points for Bear Lake, and Jake Griffis dropped in 17.

The Cardinals saw their record slip to 9-3 overall and 8-2 in the conference. Eastern returns to action Monday night when the Cardinals travel to Marion for another WMD game.