Photo by Samantha Davis. Lakeview's Braylon Breyfogle drives to the basket after getting a steal in the first half against Canby in the Section 3A play-in game Thursday night in Cottonwood. 

COTTONWOOD — Through a strong defensive effort and limiting the Lancers to just 10 second-half points, the No. 7 Lakeview boys basketball team defeated No. 10 Canby 67-25 Thursday night in the Section 3A North play-in round.

The Lakers built up a 33-15 lead by halftime with tenacious defense that led to several steals and extra offensive opportunities, which they were able to execute on. Both teams played in a full-court press, with Canby also in a zone defense.

“I thought our effort was outstanding at the perimeter and in defense by all our guys. We knew our big guys, Jackson [Staab] and Cody [Helmke], were going to have to defend the perimeter, and they did a great job,” Lakeview head coach Jared Keaveny said. “This team [Canby] has given them some trouble, and they really rose to the challenge. All our guys did a great job of containing the dribble, shutting them down, and really made things difficult for them on the offensive end.”

Braylon Breyfogle finished with a game-high 14 points, while Carson Boe and Dylan Caron each tallied 9 for the Lakers.

For the Lancers, Will Abrahamson, Casey Hoiland and Owen Peterson each shared a team-high 7 points.

Lakeview entered the postseason after finishing its regular season 9-15, and the Lancers entered Thursday 1-23, with its win coming over Yellow Medicine East 82-63 on Feb. 4.

The Lakers and Canby met twice during the regular season on Dec. 17 and Feb. 14, with Lakeview taking both meetings, 69-49 and 88-77 respectively.

“They [Canby] played us tough just a week and a half ago, so we knew we were not looking past them,” Keaveny said. “We had a good week of practice, and we knew that if we weren’t ready, it was going to be a tough game and they could get us. So, I’m really proud of our guys for coming in, not looking past them and playing their hearts out.”

Lakeview is looking to make a deeper run in this year’s section tournament, as it defeated Wabasso in the play-in round last season, but fell to Dawson-Boyd in the second round 71-35.

Canby also had hopes to make it further this time around. It was automatically placed in last season’s second round without having to compete in the play-in, but suffered a 70-64 close loss to Minneota.

“This year, we were a young team,” Canby head coach Ryan Lalim said. “We saw a lot of potential about our young guys, and we’re coming back in the offseason to be ready to work.”

The night started back-and-forth between the two, but it didn’t take long for Lakeview to heat up and take control of the court. Once it began on a run midway through the half, the Lakers didn’t allow the Lancers to go on any sort of comeback attempt.

The game began with a 6-6 tie, with all 6 of Canby’s points coming from Abrahamson and 4 of Lakeview’s coming from Jared Gregoire.

Lakeview’s Boe and Breyfogle served as the primary offensive playmakers, finishing the first half with 9 and 11 points respectively.

“Braylon and Carson sparked us early, definitely. I was also really proud, because we talked about, in the playoffs, everybody’s going to get their moment,” Keaveny said. “Everybody, when they had their moment, they took advantage and made a play for us. It was a total team effort. We were all ready to go.”

Breyfogle sank two straight 3-pointers to get Lakeview going on a run, and Staab pushed his way inside the paint to put the Lakers up 14-7.

Defense became contagious throughout the Lakers, with several different players grabbing a steal and turning it into offense.

“On defense, we were really locked in. You hold a team to 25 points, you’re doing a lot of things right,” Keaveny said. “We knew we let them shoot the ball really well the last time from the 3-point line, and this time, we did a much better job of finding shooters and making it tough for them.”

Building up a 26-9 lead with the help of a Boe 3-pointer and steal with the fast break layup, Canby’s Peterson stopped the run with a 3 of his own. But, Caron immediately hit a 3 on Lakeview’s next possession to make up for it as the first half came to a close.

“It was just a fantastic, fun crowd tonight,” Keaveny said. “We appreciate the crowd coming out and supporting the boys.”

Lakeview started the second half on a 12-4 run to extend its lead to 45-19, and cruised along the rest of the game and forced running clock.

“This was one of our best defensive efforts. We got a lot of tips, just a couple things didn’t go our way, and a couple shots didn’t go our way,” Lalim said. “They’re [Lakeview] a good team, and I wish them the best of luck on Saturday.”

Canby finishes its season 1-24, a significant difference from its 15-11 overall 2023-24 campaign. The Lancers graduate their two seniors in Jack Abrahamson and Cayden Anderson.

“They were awesome,” Lalim said. “They started our foundations for what we want to do as a team.”

Lakeview (10-15) advances to the second round of the North Section 3A tournament and will play No. 2 Central Minnesota Christian on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at Montevideo high school.

The Lakers and Bluejays last met on Jan. 27, with CMC coming away with a 63-47 victory.

“A team like that [CMC], they’re very good. You just got to really focus on not giving extra possessions, not giving them easy baskets,” Keaveny said. “You got to make them work for everything, you can’t get too caught up in everything. Just got to take it one point at a time, and grind it out.”