It was a good run, but the Lakeland Lakers unfortunately witnessed the end of their four-game winning streak on Saturday. They fell 71-60 to Michigan City. Despite running the score up even higher than they did on Saturday (59), Lakeland still had to take the loss.
When it comes to explaining why Lakeland lost, one person who can't be blamed is Nate Keil. Despite the final result, he dropped a double-double on 29 points and 11 rebounds. Keil scored a full 48.3% of Lakeland's points, the third time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Kyle Hartsough, who scored 12 points.
Lakeland's loss dropped their record down to 5-3. As for Michigan City, they now have a winning record of 5-4.
Both squads will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Lakeland will get a bit of extra time to process the loss as their next game is a ways off. They'll take on South Bend Career Academy at 6:00 p.m. on January 4, 2024. South Bend Career Academy will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Indiana Rankings (they are ranked 384th, while Lakeland is ranked 181st). Michigan City will wrap up 2023 with a road trip to face off against Lighthouse College Prep Academy at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Lighthouse College Prep Academy is out to stop a four-game streak of losses at home.