The Lakers have proven they can play with any team in their competitive Northern Division III — yet wins continue to elude them.

The North Tahoe boys opened the second half of league play with a pair of home games. They lost both, falling 45-43 to Battle Mountain on homecoming Friday and 45-34 to West Wendover the next day.

“We’re always ending up on the short end,” said North Tahoe coach Frank Wright, whose Lakers dropped to 1-8 in league play and 9-12 overall. “We’re a lot better than our record indicates. From the top to the bottom, we have very competitive teams in our league. They’re all tough. You can’t take anyone for granted.”

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North Tahoe played Battle Mountain (7-2 league, 16-2 overall) tightly throughout the contest. The Longhorns led 9-7 after one quarter, the score was tied at 23 at the half and the Lakers led 35-32 after the third quarter. Battle Mountain then outscored the hosts 13-8 in the fourth to pull out the two-point win.

Senior forward Mitchell Myers led the Lakers with 14 points, while Trent Lingruen scored 13 points and Nick Joslin had 10.

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Senior Dominic Valles scored a game-high 17 points for the Longhorns, and Blake Dorian had eight points.

Despite the loss, Wright said he was pleased with his team’s effort.

“Defensively, it was one hell of a game,” he said. “The kids came to play and did a great job.”

North Tahoe played well in the first quarter against West Wendover (4-5 league, 7-13 overall), a team the Lakers defeated 63-53 on the road last month. The Lakers led 11-10 at the end of the first period but fell behind after getting outscored 6-2 in the second quarter and 19-10 in the third.

Joslin scored 12 points to lead his team, Lingruen added nine points and Myers had four.

Sophomore Zade Elton scored a game-high 18 points for the Wolverines, and Daniel Escareno had nine.