SPRING LAKE – The district tournaments are just around the corner, and it’s important for teams to start firing on all cylinders as the regular season nears its end.

The Spring Lake boys basketball team appears to be ready for the annual one-loss-and-done districts after getting off to a strong start on Tuesday against rival Fruitport, surviving the Trojans’ third quarter comeback and posting a 72-57 victory,

Spring Lake is now 11-8 on the season and will close out the regular season against Allendale on Friday.

“It was very similar to the first time we played them,” said Spring Lake coach Bill Core. “It was important that we got off to a great start because I knew they would keep fighting. People forget that we are a young team. It was a good win because they are a good team.”

Spring Lake’s Zach Schlepp stuffa home two points for the Lakers. Photo/Tyler Lirones

Fruitport, while a much-improved team this season, appears to still have some prep work to do before districts.

The Trojans came into the game with lots of incentive. They are just two wins shy of tying the team record for most wins in a season. They were also looking to capture their first win over the Lakers in recent memory, but instead fell to 12-8 with two games remaining in the regular season.

But Coach Steve Erny was not completely happy about the overall effort.

“We were not happy with what the energy was like from the start,” he said. “It felt like we were playing on autopilot defensively. We agree about that as a team.

Schlepp goes high to get a shot off over a host of Fruitport defenders. Photo/Tyler Lirones

“The positive of this game is that we were down by 22 points at one point and cut it down to eight points. I think we ran out of gas, and as you know it’s very hard to overcome that type of deficit.”

The Trojans will host Hudsonville Unity Christian on Friday before closing out next Tuesday against Muskegon Catholic Central.

Coach Erny would love to see the Trojans at least match the 14-win school record, which was set back in 2003-04, his junior season as a player.

“I told the guys that I want them to break that record,” Erny said. “We had some goals for this group, such as having a winning season and climbing up the conference rankings and competing for a district championship, which are on the table still.”

Fruitport’s Andrew Spyke gets ready to shoot a free throw. Photo/Tyler Lirones

The Lakers had a strong start and led the entire game. They had an 18-10 advantage after the opening quarter.

Zach Schlepp and Eli Morrison led Spring Lake with five first quarter points while Zane Stahl and Colin Burt each had three.

The Trojans were paced in the opening quarter by Ryan Bosch with four points.

The Lakers outscored Fruitport 16-9 during the second quarter to take a 34-19 lead into the halftime break.

Morrison had five second quarter points for Spring Lake while Schlepp had four. The Trojans were led by Andrew Spyke with five points.

Fruitport’s Bode Anspach lets a shot fly. Photo/Tyler Lirones

Spring Lake continued to gain momentum early in the third quarter and held its largest lead of 22 points twice – 43-21 with 6:02 left and 46-24 with 5:25 remaining.

The Trojans roared back with a 21-7 run and cut their deficit to 53-45 heading into the fourth quarter.

Bode Anspach scored 12 points in the third quarter for the Trojans while Spyke had 10.

Both Burt and Stahl scored seven points to lead the Lakers in the third.

The Lakers managed to regain the momentum, however, building their lead back up to 15 points by outscoring Fruitport in the final eight minutes by a 19-12 margin.

Stahl had 10 fourth quarter points to help Spring Lake seal up the win,

The Lakers were led by Stahl with 20 points to go along with five rebounds, four blocks and three steals, while Morrison added 15 points and Burt scored 12.

The Trojans were paced by Spyke and Anspach with 17 points apiece.