The Western Michigan Christian boys worked their way back into their Lakes Eight matchup twice Friday night, ending up with a 47-38 loss to Ludington.

The Warriors trailed 7-2 at the first break, 25-14 at halftime and 36-27 heading into the final frame.

A strong rally coming out of halftime closed the gap to just two points, 27-25, with four minutes left in the third quarter before the Orioles pulled away again.

In the final minutes of play, Owen Varnado nabbed a steal and took it for a layup to close the gap to five points, 41-36, but, again, Ludington pulled away.

Varnado led with 10 points and eight rebounds, followed by Brant Zeerip and Brevin Byrne with seven points each.

“Tonight, we struggled to score early in the game,” said WMC head coach Kurt Gruppen. “Give Ludington a lot of credit, they are always a very tough defensive team. We dug ourselves an early hole by allowing that pressure to get to us.

“I was very proud of the way we came back into the game and cut the lead to three points. We just couldn’t get that one last defensive stop we needed to give ourselves a chance.”