Lakers came out of the gates firing on all cylinders and had to fight off a pesky Bad Axe squad that forced overtime, but eventually, the Green Machine hung on to win 66-64 and remain in the Greater Thumb West race.

The Lakers led 18-3 at the end of the first quarter and extended their lead out to 18 halfway through the 2nd quarter, before Bad Axe would put together a 21-4 rally to finish the first half and make it just a one-point lead for the Lakers at halftime, 27-26. The Green & White led at the end of the third quarter 42-38. The Hatchets would erase that deficit in a matter of just 2:09 with a 12-0 run to take the lead with five seconds left in regulation, leading 56-53 after a pair of free throws from Keaton Braun on a technical foul and a Michael Janssen three-pointer. Lakers fed the ball up the court to Ethan Wissner who hit a three as time expired to force overtime at 56 points, a piece.

Overtime would see three lead changes and one tie. Lakers went ahead, 66-64 with a pair of free throws from Layton Krohn with 10 seconds left. Bad Axe had one more chance in the waning seconds but failed to get a shot off before time expired.

Ethan Wissner pumped in 6 of Lakers' 10 points in the extra four minutes on a night he led the team with 18 points. Hunter Krohn and Mikel Good each added 12 points, Layton Krohn chipped in 11 and Caden Carriveau with 10 points. Logan Carr made his only points, a three-pointer to start the second half.

Bad Axe was led by Keaton Braun with 28 points, 19 of which came after halftime. Micahel Janssen fired for 15 points, including the go-ahead score in regulation with five seconds left. Griffin Meinhold added nine with Grady Seltz and Jake MacPhee each with six points.

With the win, Lakers remains just one game out of first place in the Greater Thumb WEst behind Cass City and improves to 12-3 on the season (7-2 GTW). Bad Axe falls to 13-3 and 7-3 in divisional play.