Battle Lake at Hillcrest Lutheran
7:15 p.m., Friday, Feb. 17

Battle Lake and Hillcrest Lutheran enter Friday’s duel trending in opposite directions, and both need a win to remain in contention for the Little Eight Conference crown.

Battle Lake dropped its first two league games but responded to its mid-December skid by winning 13 of its last 15 contests. The run was fueled by victories in seven consecutive conference games — including avenging earlier losses to Brandon-Evansville and league leader Parkers Prairie — which propelled the No. 18-1A Battlers (15-4, 7-2) to second place in the conference standings. 

Eric Van Erp posted a team-high 36 points and Isaiah Dorn knocked down a buzzer-beater in Battle Lake’s 77-75 win over Parkers Prairie on Jan. 31.

Hillcrest Lutheran was dominant in its first eight games of the season but has struggled  after back-to-back losses to No. 5-1A Red Lake (72-61) and Battle Lake (55-48) in mid-January. 

The Comets (12-6, 6-3) have lost six of their past 10, but can look to leading scorer Kyler Newman (23.2 ppg) to help get back on track. Newman may need to play big on Friday after Battle Lake held Hillcrest Lutheran to a season-low 48 points in their last game.