Lake Placid’s Hayden Trombley grabs a rebound during Wednesday’s game in Saranac Lake. Also pictured is PJ Colby of Lake Placid and Red Storm players Brady Roberts (5) and Nate McCarthy.   (Alicia Brandes photo)

SARANAC LAKE — Nate McCarthy had a night to remember on Wednesday.

The junior forward went on a scoring spree while draining 37 points to lead the Saranac Lake boys basketball team to a 54-35 victory over Lake Placid on the Red Storm’s court.

The win was the second in as many games for the Red Storm, who also topped Tupper Lake this week to improve to 2-0. The loss was the first of the season for the Blue Bombers, who are now 2-1 overall.

“Both teams played good defense in the first half,” Red Storm coach Dermott Morgan said. “Nate McCarthy rebounded and continued to drive to the rim all second half. Lake Placid couldn’t stop him.”

Brady Yando added 10 points and dished out seven assists in the win, while Gabe Wilson and James Catania teamed up on defense to help shut down some of the Blue Bombers’ main scoring threats, including senior Matt Brandes, who was held to just one field goal. Brandes had 35 combined points in Lake Placid’s pair of wins entering the matchup.

Jack Armstrong finished with 15 points to lead the Blue Bombers. The junior gave Lake Placid a faint glimmer of hope by sinking a trio of three-pointers in the fourth quarter to cut Saranac Lake’s lead to 10 points, but the Red Storm fended off any hint of a further rally.

Nick Marvin also hit in double figures for Lake Placid, finishing with 10 points.

Saranac Lake 54,

Lake Placid 35

Lake Placid (35)

Armstrong 6-0-15, Byrne 0-0-0, Colby 0-0-0, Ledwith 0-0-0, Brandes 1-0-2, Kondrat 0-0-0, Cecunjanin 0-0-0, Gavin 3-0-8, Marvin 4-1-10. Totals: 14-1-35.

Saranac Lake (54)

Yando 4-0-10, Wilson 0-0-0, Roberts 0-0-0, McCarthy 14-9-37, Catania 0-1-1, Faubert 1-1-4, Hewitt 1-0-2. Totals: 20-11-54.

Halftime- Saranac Lake, 21-14.

3 point goals- Lake Placid (6) Armstrong 3, Gavin 2, Marvin. Saranac Lake (3) Yando 2, Faubert.

Boys Hockey

Saranac Central 4,

SLP 2

PLATTSBURGH — The Saranac Lake Placid hockey team finally played its first game of the season in Champlain Valley Athletic Conference boys hockey Wednesday night.

Saranac, however, prevented SLP from opening with a win.

Nik Hamel tallied a hat trick and Ethan Barnes netted his first-career goal as the Chiefs (7-3) skated to a 4-2 victory at Ameri-Can North Sports Center.

Saranac Central jumped out to a pair of one-goal leads only to see SLP rally to deadlock the score, and the Chiefs then netted the last two goals of the game to claim the win.

Hamel’s goal at 10:01 of the third period broke a 2-all tie and put Saranac ahead to stay. Barnes scored his goal a minute later for insurance.

Noah Munn-Jennings and Rhett Darrah tallied the SLP goals.

Both goalies, Saranac’s Macen Mero and SLP’s Anders Stanton, finished with 27 saves. Saranac finished with a 31-29 edge in shots on goal.

“In the first period we looked a little anxious,” SLP head coach Keith Clark said. “Once we kind of got going, we started doing some nice things toward the end of the first and in the second. We got some offensive pressure going and were making plays down low, but we really kind of struggled and unraveled in the third period. Hopefully we can build off the good things and try to be a little more consistent heading into our next game.”

SLP next travels to face a solid Northeastern Clinton team on Saturday, and then faces Plattsburgh on Sunday on the Hornets home rink at the Ameri-Can North Arena.

Saranac 4, SLP 2

SLP 1 0 1 — 2

Saranac 1 1 2 — 4

First period- 1, SCS, Hamel (Campbell, O’Connell), 2:21. 2, SLP, Munn-Jennings (Duffy), 12:22.

Second period- 3, SCS, Hamel ppg (Duprey, Eagleson), 7:52.

Third period- 4, SLP, R. Darrah (Bartholomew), 2:31. 5, SCS, Hamel, 10:01. 6, SCS, Barnes (Duprey, Catlin), 11:05.

Shots on goal- Saranac 31, SLP 29.

Saves- Stanton, SLP, 27. Mero, SCS, 27.

Girls Basketball

Boquet Valley 25,

Lake Placid 22

LAKE PLACID — Blue Bombers coach Brian LaVallee said his team knew it would be in for a tough night against the pressing defense of the Griffins.

Abbey Schwoebel turned in a game-high 15 points to lead the way for Boquet Valley.

“Boquet was impressive in their conditioning, and they executed their game plan well,” LaVallee said. “They were tough on the boards and shot well from the floor. I am very proud of my girls for the effort they put in and their no-quit mentality.”

Nadia Phillip and Isabella Armstrong both totaled six points and helped spark a bit of a third-quarter rally for Lake Placid.

“Even in the loss, the ladies had a smile just happy to be playing,” LaVallee said. “We would like to thank all the refs for their efforts this season. Many of them are going six nights a week.”

Boquet Valley 52,

Lake Placid 22

Boquet Valley (52)

Burdo 0-4-4, Kirkby 1-0-2, Poe 0-0-0, Schwoebel 6-2-15, Thompson 1-0-2, Sy. Bisselle 2-0-4, Lobdell 4-0-8, King 4-0-8, Sk. Bisselle 2-2-6, Caputo 1-0-2, Monty 0-1-1, Denton 0-0-0. Totals: 21-9-52.

Lake Placid (22)

Armstrong 2-0-6, Tavares 0-0-0, Kellerman 1-2-4, Bashaw 0-0-0, Phillip 3-0-6, Marvin 2-0-4, Moore 0-0-0, Cecunjanin 1-0-2, Coursen 0-0-0. Totals: 9-2-22.

Halftime- Boquet Valley, 25-10.

3 point goals- Boquet Valley (1) Schwoebel. Lake Placid (2) Armstrong 2.