Photo by Samantha Davis: The Yellow Medicine East boys basketball team celebrates after winning the Section 3A play-in round against Lakeview Thursday night in Cottonwood. The Sting defeated the Lakers 55-52.

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COTTONWOOD — Along with building a commanding 17-point halftime lead, the No. 10 Yellow Medicine East boys basketball team was able to hold off a fierce comeback attempt by No. 7 Lakeview to come away with a 55-52 upset thriller Thursday night in the Section 3A North subsection play-in round. The loss ends the Lakers season at 9-17 overall.

The Sting took care of business on the defensive end throughout the entire night, particularly in their rebounding effort, which ultimately made the difference down the stretch. Lakeview struggled throughout the first half in getting shots to fall down.

Lakeview came out of the locker room with a new mindset and put up a strong fight to eventually bring the score back within a point, making it anyone’s game with the season on the line.

Braylon Breyfogle knocked down a floater down the middle of the lane to bring the score within a possession, 51-49, with 48.2 seconds on the clock.

YME traveled after getting a rebound to give the Lakers back the ball, but Lakeview in return was called for a foul unintentionally to put Gunnar Fagen at the line, who made both free throws for a Sting 52-49 lead.

Yet, Ian Taylor immediately nailed a 3-pointer with 5.4 seconds left of the clock to cut into a 53-52 deficit.

Out of a timeout, Lakeview fouled YME off its inbound play in double bonus to put Fagen back at the charity stripe.

Erupting the away crowd and student section, Fagen sank both free throws to clinch the win as the Lakers’ final shot at the buzzer didn’t fall, and the Sting ran to celebrate the victory together at their bench next to their fans.

Cody Helmke was a strong force inside the paint for the Lakers throughout the game between rebounding and putbacks, while Taylor and Breyfogle ran the scoring front for Lakeview with 17 and 14 points, respectively. Helmke finished with 11.

Kia Greycloud was nearly unstoppable in the first half with 16 points, finishing with a game-high 20, along with Fagen’s 17.

YME initially started the second half just how it ended the first, and took to a 41-27 lead following baskets from Greycloud and Fagen.

A 3-pointer from Taylor and back-to-back Breyfogle layups started Lakeview’s rally midway through the half with just over nine minutes to go.

YME and Lakeview got off to a 7-7 tied start to the night, before the Sting took control and kept its lead the rest of the night.

Greycloud was an immediate spark off the bench and hit his first 3-pointer for a YME 12-7 early lead.

Breyfogle pulled the Lakers back within a possession after grabbing the defensive board and finding an open Kyler Sorbo up the court for a fastbreak layup.

The Sting took to their first double-digit lead of the night at 22-11 following baskets from Fagen, Jack Mensink, Greycloud and Calen Almich, before Lakeview’s Trevor Tusberg could put a halt to the run with a jumpshot.

YME continued to make a statement with its rebounding effort to earn extra possessions, just as another Greycloud 3 from the right wing gave the Sting a 27-16 edge.

On the final possession of the half with about 20 seconds remaining, Lakeview looked to run down the clock to get the final shot, but an aggresive take from Greycloud led to a steal and open fastbreak layup to end the half for a YME 37-20 lead.

Both Lakeview and YME competed in last season’s section play-in round as well, as the seven and nine-seed, respectively.

The Lakers entered the night 2-0 over the Sting this season, with a 68-37 win on Dec. 2 in the second game of the season, and again on Jan. 20, 64-43. YME, however, came out with a hard response this time around.

Lakeview will graduate a strong group of seniors in Taylor, Breyfogle, Tusberg, Landyn Listul, Kaiden Pringle, Helmke and Jackson Staab.

YME (4-21) will now look ahead to the Section 3A subsection quarterfinals, and will take on No. 2 and the defending Class A state champions in Dawson-Boyd (20-5) on Saturday at Montevideo High School. Tip off is slated for 2:20 p.m.