“This was unreal. With the crowd, it was just like a stadium pulse, it was through the roof,” YME senior Cooper McCosh said. “We just played hard. Our rebounding has been a lot better than it has been in past games.”

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.

“We’re feeling pretty good, but the job’s not done yet,” YME senior Kia Greycloud said. “We still got another game, another practice, and looking forward to the next game … We all want to win, and we’re lucky enough that we got this dub. We came out in the right state of mind, and the teammates came prepared.”

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.

Photo by Samantha Davis: Yellow Medicine East's Gunnar Fagen moves around his defender and goes toward the basket in the Section 3A play-in round against Lakeview on Feb. 26 in Cottonwood.

“I am very proud of their effort. We talked at halftime, and we said that, to give yourselves a chance, you just got to stay in the fight, and they kept working,” Lakeview head coach Jared Keaveny said. “Take it one play at a time, calm yourself down, we’re not going to tie the game in the first possession. You can only get a stop and then keep building. I thought the guys showed a lot of composure. They had opportunities to execute it, took good shots and finished … One more shot goes down, and this is a different conversation … But, the kids really worked hard, I’m very proud.”

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 53-49 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.

Photo by Samantha Davis: Yellow Medicine East's Kia Greycloud attacks the lane in the Section 3A North play-in round against Lakeview on Feb. 26 in Cottonwood.

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.

“Oh, I was praying. I was like Lord, please help me,” McCosh said, laughing, about the team managing the final minute of the game. McCosh had missed a free throw just before Fagen’s last two trips to the line. “I got to the line, and my legs were just shaking. I was like, ‘Alright, I got to use my legs at this free throw,’ and then I went to move them, and they didn’t move and I was like, ‘Yep, that’s short’ … But, once Gunnar went to the line, I knew we were good.”

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 and a team-high nine rebounds.

Greycloud was nearly unstoppable once he got going in the first half with 16 points, finishing with a game-high 20, along with Fagen’s 17. McCosh had a team-high 11 rebounds.

“[It was just] moving the ball, and teammates finding me in the right position,” Greycloud said. “I love how my teammates trust me with shooting and trying to get the ball, and moving it around.”

Photo by Samantha Davis: Lakeview's Cody Helmke goes back up for a shot in the Section 3A play-in round, Feb. 26 in Cottonwood.

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. He finished the night shooting 3 of 5 from deep, along with a team-best three steals to his six rebounds.

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.

Photo by Samantha Davis: Yellow Medicine East's Kolten Blankenhagen goes up for a layup in the Section 3A play-in round against Lakeview on Feb. 26 in Cottonwood.

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.

“Our team coordination was just really good. We knew where everybody was on the board. We didn’t have as many turnovers I think in the first half,” McCosh said. “I think we didn’t give them [Lakeview] very many second-chance shots, so that was huge.”

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.

The Sting outrebounded the Lakers 32-24.

“The past couple practices, that’s like all we’ve been doing, is just rebounding and crashing the boards,” McCosh said.

Photo by Samantha Davis: Lakeview's Braylon Breyfogle begins to cut to the basket in the Section 3A play-in round against Yellow Medicine East Thursday night in Cottonwood. The Sting defeated the Lakers 55-52.

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 aggressive take from Greycloud led to a steal and open fastbreak layup to end the half for a YME 37-20 lead.

“You got to give YME a lot of credit … You got to give credit where credit is due. They came out and they played hard,” Keaveny said. “They hurt us on the offensive boards. We might have gotten a stop, but they get a rebound and put it back in, and they took advantage of that, and you got to acknowledge that.”

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.

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

“They’re great players, but they’re better people, and I love them. We’re going to miss them,” Keaveny said of the seniors. “They’ve improved every year. They’re great kids, they’re outstanding leaders. They’re going to do wonderful things in this world. It’s tough to lose them, because they left everything out there, and my heart goes out to them.”

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.

“We are definitely going to use this [win] a lot,” McCosh said. “Coming off this high, it’s going to be a lot of fun going into the next game, and I think it will teach the younger kids a lot, too.”

Photo by Samantha Davis: The Yellow Medicine East student section cheers after the game in the Section 3A play-in round against Lakeview Thursday night in Cottonwood. The Sting defeated the Lakers 55-52.