Lake Placid’s Seb Cecunjanin dribbles during a game against Crown Point on Jan. 11. (News photo — Parker O’Brien)

LAKE PLACID — The Lake Placid boys basketball team suffered a 68-39 loss to the Crown Point Panthers on Jan. 11 on their home court.

The Blue Bombers fell behind early in the first quarter and were never able to climb back into the contest. The Panthers outscored Lake Placid in all four quarters en route to a season sweep.

While it wasn’t the greatest outing, Blue Bombers head coach Brian Brandes was proud of his team’s effort. He said showing pride and intensity on both ends of the court was a point of emphasis pre-game.

“I’ll take what they did any day,” he said. “From the starting buzzer to (when) Talon had the and one at the end. I’m happy with their overall intensity.”

Seb Cecunjanin paced the Blue Bombers with 20 points, including five 3-pointers. Talon Jordon added nine points, Owen Hayes chipped in eight and Jarrett Mihill had two.

The Blue Bombers did their best to hang on with Crown Point in the early stages when Cecunjanin knocked down a 3-point shot to make the score 8-5. However, the Panthers answered with a 14-6 run to close out the first quarter. Crown Point extended its lead in the second quarter by outscoring Lake Placid 20-5.

While trailing by 24, the Blue Bombers had a solid second half, with Cecunjanin and Hayes knocking down two 3-pointers each, while Jordon was solid around the basket. The trio combined for all of their team’s points. The Panthers outscored Lake Placid 26-22 in the final two quarters.

Despite the lopsided score, the Blue Bombers showed a vast improvement from the last time it faced Crown Point earlier in the season when the team lost 74-24.

“It’s hard to play a team like that in your second game of the year and we weren’t ready mentally or physically,” Brandes said. “We were a little bit better this time and our defense is coming along.”

But Brandes said there’s still a lot of work to do.

“As long as they are having fun, enjoying it and getting better everyday we’re good,” he said.

The Panthers’ Trevor Harris, who recorded 50 points the last time he faced the Blue Bombers, scored a game-high 34 points. Reese Pertak added 14 points and Matt Beeman had 12. Crown improved to 7-2 overall – its lone two losses were against non-conference teams.

“Crown Point is a good team and it’s tough to stop Trevor,” Brandes said. “You can put a hand in his face and he still shoots from 20 (feet) and nothing but net.”