CANBY - The Canby boys basketball team was able to win the starting battle in both halves against Dawson-Boyd, but the Blackjacks had too much offense for the Lancers.
The Blackjacks put together long runs in both halves to come away with an 83-52 win in Camden Conference action Thursday night.
"On the road, that's the challenge, making sure you come out with the necessary intensity," said Dawson-Boyd head coach Cory Larson. "It wasn't the most consistent effort, but for the most part it was there."
Article Photos
Photo by Alex Oey
Dawson-Boyd’s Michael Lee, right, goes up for a layup as Canby’s Nate Stafki, left, defends during Thursday’s Camden Conference game at Canby High School. The No. 3-ranked Blackjacks won 83-52.
The Lancers (3-6 overall, 1-5 Camden) jumped out and grabbed the early 6-2 lead with threes from Tanner Balvin and Nate Stafki. The score would be tied at 6 and 8 before the Blackjacks (8-2, 6-0) went on a seven-point run, with Nathaniel Huot scoring five of his game-high 27 points.
Dawson-Boyd would continue to build on their lead, going on scoring streaks of six, five points to build a 29-15 lead before Canby would cut it back to a 10-point game at 29-19.
In the last three minutes of the half, the Blackjacks outscored the Lancers 10-2 to take a 43-24 lead into the half.
Fact Box
Dawson-Boyd (83)
Nathaniel Huot 19 5-5 27, Zach Stelter 4 0-0 8, Joey Lee 6 0-0 12, Josh Wager 3 2-2 11, Evan Robertson 1 3-4 5, Michael Lee 4 0-0 8, Jack Hansen 2 2-2 8, Ryan Sumner 1 0-0 2, Jon Tensen 1 0-2 2. Totals 32 12-15 83. Three-Pointers 7 (Wager 3, Huot 2, Hansen 2). Rebounds 30 (Robertson 7, M. Lee 6). Assists 18 (J. Lee 10). Steals 15 (Huot 6, Robertson 5). Blocks 3. Turnovers 15. Fouls 16.
Canby (52)
Michael Slaba 5 5-10 17, Nate Stafki 2 0-0 5, Cole Brusven 4 0-0 12, Michael Sisk 4 1-2 9, Tanner Balvin 1 0-0 3, Zach Nuy 1 2-2 4, Kyle DeVos 1 0-0 2. Totals 18 8-14 52. Three-Pointers 8 (Brusven 4, Slaba 2, Stafki 1, Balvin 1). Rebounds 25 (Slaba 6, Devos 4). Assists 14 (Slaba 10). Steals 8 (Brusven 3). Blocks 1 (Sisk 1). Turnovers 15. Fouls 17.
Halftime Score: Dawson-Boyd 43, Canby 24.
"You have to bring your best game to beat these guys," said Canby's Michael Slaba. "They are a really good team."
The Lancers came out strong in the second half with Cole Brusven hitting two three-pointers. Slaba added two and Michael Sisk hit the back end of a pair of free throws to cut the Dawson-Boyd lead to 43-33.
"I thought the second half we did a much better job of giving them one shot when it did miss," said Canby head coach Jon Hanson. "We were moving the ball a lot better. On the other end we weren't letting them have their third and fourth shots, which just killed us the second part of the first half."
The Blackjacks' first points of the second half came nearly three-and-a-half minutes in to the half when Michael Lee pushed the lead back to 12.
"We were kind of sloppy with things. We got out-hustled, that's for sure," Huot said. "We weren't boxing out right away, we weren't filling our lanes on defense. It was sloppy play."
Said Slaba, "I knew they were taking man-to-man right away and they were over-playing our wings, so we tried to get into an offense where they couldn't do that. We tried to overload a side with three guys so we could get a little movement in there and isolate to get a little penetration and kick to our outside shooters because we have some good shooters."
After stopping the Canby run, the Blackjacks went on a 7-0 run to push the lead back to 17.
"We had a good run, but they are relentless, they keep shooting," Hanson said. "They have their times and they got hot again. You have to play a whole game against them."
D-B continued to go on multi-point runs, building a lead of 28 with 6:10 left in the game, going as high as 34 before finishing with an 83-52 win.
The Blackjacks will be in action again tonight when they travel to Clara City to face MACCRAY. Both teams are undefeated in the conference.
"That's a big one at their place. It should be fun," Larson said. "It should be packed."
Canby will face Southwest Star Concept at the R/A Facility at Southwest Minnesota State University on Saturday.