While connecting on three triples in the first quarter, the Panthers jumped on the Lakers 19-9 and never trailed.

In the first half, Frankfort guard Owen Stratton scored 16 of his 22 points to pace his team, while center Brandon Miller cleaned up through the second half, finishing with a game-high 28.

“It was very similar to Monday,” Frankfort coach Dave Jackson said of the Panthers’ quarterfinal win over Onekama. “The M. O. was the same. We just knew how important it was to get a quick start. Bear Lake’s quick. They like to press and be in transition. We knew if we allowed them to hang around early, it’d be a dog fight.

“We just tried to move the ball, knowing the pressure was going to come.”

After a 15-5 first quarter run by Frankfort, Lakers starter Alex Ringel picked up his third foul and was therefore limited for the remainder of the first half. Starting point guard Tyler Groenwald also fell victim to early foul trouble, and eventually fouled out late in the third.

“If I lose Tyler and Weston and Alex Ringel to foul trouble,” Bryan Groenwald explained, “we’re going to struggle.

“For a lot of these guys, it was the first time to be in a packed gym like that,” he added of the less-experienced Lakers in their first district game. “There was a few of them before the game that were pretty stunned by the enormity of it all.

“And it can sometimes be tough when you have one senior on the team. Seniors have that intensity, they have that urgency. Tonight, poor Weston (Brooks) was alone in that senior role, and that can make it hard at tournament time.”

The offense never seemed to pick up steam on the Lakers’ end, with the exception of an 8-0 run midway through the second quarter that cut the gap to single digits, 26-17. Frankfort responded however, and closed the half on a 7-0 run for a 37-19 advantage.