Photo by Chris Drummond Canby’s Trevor Gray attempts a layup against the MACCRAY Wolverines in the Lancers’ 70-66 loss to MACCRAY in the second round of the Section 3A North playoffs in Montevideo Saturday afternoon.

MONTEVIDEO– The Canby Lancers were defeated by the MACCRAY Wolverines in a hard-fought battle, 70-66, in the second round of the Section 3A North playoffs Saturday afternoon.

The game was a contrast of styles. The Lancers wanted to use pace and speed while the Wolverines wanted to use their size advantage. Both teams executed their game plans in the first half. Trevor Gray drove into the lane and got an and-1 midway through the half to give the Lancers a 1-point lead, 22-21.

Brady Hulzebos made several 3-pointers in the first half to keep pace with the Wolverines. The Wolverines dominated the rebounds throughout the game and continued to score inside to take a 29-28 lead into halftime.

The opening of the second half saw the Wolverines go on a run through their defense. The Wolverines were blocking and altering shot attempts and converting the defensive plays into buckets on the offensive end.

The Lancers called a timeout down by 9 points. The lead would stretch to 11 points late in the game as the Wolverines converted a 3-point play, 61-50.

The Lancers Michael Tol came down and hit a shot, cutting the lead to 61-52. The Wolverines inbounded the ball but turned it over and Tol hit another 3-pointer. After a Wolverine basket, the Lancers came down and Tol hit his third consecutive 3-pointer, cutting the lead to 3 points.

The Wolverines turned the ball over again due to Canby’s on-ball pressure. The Lancers missed the shot to tie but got a steal and Zach Ourada converted a layup to cut the lead to 2 points.

The Lancers fouled and the Wolverines hit both free throws, making the score 66-62.

After a missed 3-pointer, Evan Weber drove the ball and was fouled. Weber made one of two free throws. The Lancers would foul again and the Wolverines knocked down one of two free throws with less than 30 seconds left. The Lancers came down and Tol launched a -pointer and missed, but the Lancers got the offensive rebound and Gray made a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 67-66.

The Lancers fouled again and the Wolverines made both free throws, going up by 3 points. The Lancers had one last chance but turned the ball over,

Canby fouled again with 1.6 seconds left. The Wolverines made the first free throw, missed the second, and grabbed the offensive rebound to secure the victory.

“I think we know in the back of our minds that we didn’t play as well as we could today,” An emotional Canby head coach Sawyer Hansen said. “The one thing I know about these kids is that, whenever we go out of the playoffs, I knew we’d go out swinging. The one thing I’ll remember about this group is we were down 10 with six minutes to go with a chance to quit and chose not to. We battled back and made it a game. We had our opportunities. We do have a lot of kids coming back, but we will miss our two seniors in Gray and Weber a lot. They have meant a lot to this program and our town. It will be tough to replace them. This group is very special to me. I’ve coached them at the youth level and watched them grow up.”

Canby stats were unavailable at the time of print.