The Hills-Beaver Creek boys couldn’t match the firepower offered by a strong Mountain Lake Area basketball squad Friday in Mountain Lake.

The home-standing Wolverines canned 52 percent of their field goals and outscored the Patriots in both halves of the game to secure an 81-55 victory.

MLA ambushed the Patriots when it rolled to a 44-20 lead in the first half.

The Wolverines used a 37-35 scoring edge in the second half to secure a26-point victory.

Dylan Gehrke (16 points and five rebounds) and Jeff Sandbulte (11 points and six rebounds) led H-BC statistically.

Carey Taubert and Dalton Bass collected nine and five rebounds respectively for a Patriot squad that slipped to 2-4 in Red Rock Conference play with the loss.

Box score

Bass 1 0 0-1 2, Ellingson 1 1 3-4 8, Gallagher 3 0 0-0 6, Gehrke 3 3 1-3 16, Kerkhove-Brandt 1 0 1-4 3, Sandbulte 2 2 1-2 11, Taubert 2 0 0-2 4, Tilstra 0 0 1-2 1, Wagenaar 1 0 2-2 4.

Team statistics

H-BC: 20 of 77 field goals (26 percent), nine of 20 free throws (45 percent), 33 rebounds, 17 turnovers.

MLA: 35 of 67 field goals (52 percent), seven of 16 free throws (44 percent), 34 rebounds, 12 turnovers.