Saranac Lake’s Brady Yando dribbles the ball as teammate Nate McCarthy joins the advance and Caden Taylor follows for Saint Lawrence Central during Saturday’s game. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

SARANAC LAKE — For the second time in as many games, Saranac Lake’s boys found itself in a battle. They owned a three-point lead at halftime, but were unable to hold on down the stretch during a 60-52 loss to Saint Lawrence Central Saturday.

In the non-league basketball matchup at the North Country Community College Sports Complex, the Larries took control late, outscoring the Red Storm 23-14 in the fourth quarter to clinch the victory.

In the end, the Larries’ full-court press and their presence on the offensive boards after halftime proved to be too much for the Red Storm to handle.

Saint Lawrence also held an overwhelming advantage at the foul line, outscoring Saranac Lake 17-2 in free throws. The Larries connected on all but three of their 20 attempts from the stripe.

“We’re starting a freshman, a couple of sophomores, and we had too many turnovers in this game,” said head coach Dermott Morgan, whose Red Storm fell 55-50 in their last contest prior to Saturday. “Last year, this team beat us by 30, and the same the year before that.

“We’re getting better, and the kids want to win,” Morgan continued. “We just dropped two games where we had a lead in the fourth quarter. We have to learn how to win these games, but at least we’re competing now.”

A big reason Saranac Lake did hang tough and even held leads earlier in the contest was hot shooting. Four Red Storm players combined to drain nine three-pointers, and Brady Yando and Dylan Stewart led the way with three apiece. Yando, Saranac Lake’s junior point guard, finished with a game-high 15 points and Stewart scored 12 points. Sophomore Nate McCarthy chipped in 10 points in the loss and Landon Faubert added eight.

Ethan LaRock paced the Larries with 13 points and Cash Feeley added 11 points. Sean Perry and Ansen Weegar knocked down nine points each for the winners. Steven Horner added eight points and also had a strong performance rebounding for Saint Lawrence.

The Larries, who play in Section X, improved to 4-3 with the win. The Red Storm dropped to 2-5. The loss was the fifth straight for Saranac Lake, which opened the season with non-league victories over Lake Placid and Tupper Lake.

Saranac Lake is now off until Saturday, Jan. 4, when it next travels to face Willsboro in another non-league matchup slated to start at 1:30 p.m.

“In past seasons, we would slow the game down because we didn’t have kids who could score,” Morgan said. “I’ve always had good athletes with not much basketball skill, and now we have some kids who can shoot. We’ll be in more games like this. We just have to learn how to take care of the ball and finish the game.”

Saint Lawrence Central 60,

Saranac Lake 52

Larries 13 8 16 23 — 60

Red Storm 9 15 14 14 — 52

Saint Lawrence (60)

Feeley 4-3-11, Perkins 2-4-9, LaRock 4-4-13, C. Taylor 3-0-6, Perry 0-0-0, Horner 4-0-8, Weegar 3-2-9, Arquiett 0-4-4. Totals: 20-17-60.

Saranac Lake (52)

Yando 6-0-15, Rockhill 0-0-0, McCarthy 5-0-10, Catania 1-0-2, Stewart 4-1-12, L. Faubert 3-0-8, Churco 1-2-5, G. Faubert 0-0-0. Totals: 20-2-52.

Three-point goals: Saint Lawrence (3), LaRock, Perkins, Weegar. Saranac Lake (9), Yando 3, Stewart 3, L. Faubert 2, Churco.