Basketball Recap: Maple Lake Takes a Tough Playoff Loss

It's hard to turn regular season success into postseason wins, a fact Maple Lake can now relate to. They were outmatched by the Upsala Cardinals and fell 88-36. While losing is never fun, the Irish can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Minnesota basketball rankings (they are ranked 412th, while the Cardinals are ranked 169th).

Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Upsala to victory, but perhaps none more so than Samuel Laliberte, who went 7-for-13 to rack up 17 points and six assists. Laliberte is also on a roll when it comes to three-point shooting accuracy, as he's posted one of at least 40% in the last three games he's played. Another player making a difference was Jack Primus, who posted 17 points in addition to five boards and three steals.

Maple Lake's loss dropped their record down to 3-21. As for Upsala, the victory was the fourth in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 21-6.

Maple Lake does not have any more games scheduled as of now. As for Upsala, they will take on Swanville at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday. Upsala is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 65.3 points per game this season.