North Tahoe’s seven eligible basketball players simply could not keep up with the army that was Yerington Wednesday night on Dollar Hill.

Playing late due to a double overtime JV game, the Lakers (0-7, 4-13) battled against a bigger ” in both individual size and numbers ” Yerington squad that eventually took the game 48-35.

Despite the 13-point victory, it was a closely-contested game for the Lions (4-2 league, 15-3 overall with 11 straight wins), who had the Lakers close on their heels most of the way.

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After the first quarter, Yerington led by only four points.

Heading into the locker room at halftime, North Tahoe had whittled that lead down to one point after taking the lead in a quarter that saw an almost super-human effort by the Laker squad.

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“Now that’s the best zone we’ve ever played,” Laker head coach David Hansen said coming out of the locker room. “I hope they can do it for 16 more minutes.”

Unfortunately for Laker fans, Hansen only got half his wish.

North Tahoe continued to battle, with incredible defensive and physical effort by North Tahoe, most notably by Michele Basile ” who seemed almost possessed on defense ” and Michael Forte ” who was double and even triple teamed almost every time he got the ball.

Despite going down in the first half of the quarter, the Lakers rose up and fought back in the closing four minutes.

Heading into the final quarter of basketball, Yerington led 23-22.

With nearly a third of the team out due to academic restrictions, North Tahoe simply could not keep the raging fire stoked through the end of play.

Due to fatigue-induced errors such as missed shots and slightly slower defense in the fourth quarter, Yerington squeaked away with the victory, which was almost entirely won in the final six minutes of the game.

Battling both a strong team and fatigue, the Laker ballers still nearly all managed to post points.

As usual, the team was led by Forte, who put up 13 points. The senior was followed by Taylor Goode with 12 and Spencer Marple with four. Everyone else with the exception of Ernesto Mendoza posted two points each.

North Tahoe now looks to chase Sparks (2-5) tonight, which is next on the standings board.

“We’re going to go to work tomorrow and try to get Sparks on Friday,” Hansen said after the game.