The visiting Spartans turned in a stellar defensive effort in their victory over Section 1-AA opponent Mohawk.

Laurel held the Warriors to 11 second-half points, outscoring them 32-11 in the final 16 minutes.

“I think our guys came out ready, we challenged them to that especially on the defensive end,” Laurel coach Ken Locke said. “The third quarter especially we dug in defensively. We got some easy buckets, we didn’t shoot the ball very well. When you have a couple days off, that’ll happen.

“But I think we have guys that can score in general and we’ve been stressing if we play defense, we’ll be all right. We dug in and got some easy buckets on the other end because of it.”

Added Mohawk coach Rob Fadden, “They were able to get out and get transition points like they did in the second half.”

Scott Siddall led the Spartans (10-3, 15-6) with 24 points. Jacob Wilson followed with 16 points, eight rebounds and four steals, while Mason Mraz earned a triple-double by way of 10 points, 13 boards and 10 steals, his second of the season.

Ricky Malutic paced Mohawk (0-13, 1-20) with 11 points, while Zach Shasteen was held to eight points.

“Jake Wilson was on Shasteen and he had two in the first half, “Locke said. “He brings so much energy, Noah (Wertz) had Malutic for most of the time and he did a good defensive job as well.”