Laconia closes out Mayville

Mayville led Laconia for about 20 seconds on Friday night.

Laconia responded, retook the lead and never looked back to secure a 62-51 win to open Flyway play on the road.

Cardinals senior Joren Schlender, who scored a game-high 27 points, hit a 3-pointer to give Mayville (0-3 overall, 0-1 in Flyway) its only lead of the night with about 15:25 left in the game.

Laconia junior Cash Farrell responded the next possession with a basket. That sparked a 20-8 run that put the Spartans ahead for good.

Ethan Pinno had 8 of those points, which included two 3s. He said the team continues to improve offensively under first-year coach Dylan Wurtz.

“We just had to slow down and get into our offense, let shots get open and then hit them,” Pinno said. “It’s new offense, so we’ve been working on it a lot. It’s going to keep coming along.”

Pinno finished with a team-high 17 points on efficient shooting. He went 3-for-5 from deep.

Farrell had to contend with foul trouble in the first half, for he picked up three fouls before the break. He had held Schlender to 7 first-half points.

Wurtz switched Farrell off of Schlender in the second half in order to keep him out of further foul trouble.

“He was great in gap help and great in affecting plays off the ball,” Wurtz said. “He still defended at a high level, just did it a little differently. It led to positive results and some turnovers that ended up in points for us.”

The change worked. Farrell did not commit a foul during the second half. However, Schlender did score 20 in the second half.

“We switched roles for [Farrell] in the second half,” Wurtz said. “[Schlender] is a heck of a player.”

Farrell finished with 15 points. Laconia (2-0, 1-0) also got another good outing from Nick Blank, who scored 13 points.

Wurtz said he thinks Blank will be a more consistent threat for the Spartans this year.

“I could really talk about anybody stepping up, but Nick has been consistent so far,” Wurtz said. “That’s what we expected. That’s not a surprise for us.”

PHOTO GALLERY: Laconia at Mayville boys basketball - 12/7/2024