The Lancers finished this season 6-18 overall, a jump up from its 1-24 run last year.

“I am proud that we just never gave up in games. As you saw towards the beginning of the year, we struggled and we went on a bit of a losing streak to begin the year,” Canby head coach Ryan Lalim said. “About midway through the year, we kind of turned around and kept every game close. We had a lot of people step up.”

Canby had a handful of valuable assets this season, such as strong shooters Will Abrahamson, Jace Rangaard and Owen Peterson, all of whom are juniors and will lead the group again next year. Casey Hoiland and Karter Potz were the Lancers’ senior duo this season.

“I am just proud of the work they [Hoiland and Potz] put in the last four years. They showed up always ready to go,” Lalim said.

Photo by Samantha Davis: Canby's Jace Rangaard (right) runs for a loose ball in the first half against Tracy-Milroy-Balaton on Feb. 13.

The Lancers entered the postseason off a 58-55 thrilling win over MACCRAY to end the regular season with momentum. But, Canby ultimately came up short in the Section 3A North subsection play-in round to Lac qui Parle Valley 74-69 to conclude its season on Feb. 26.

Despite seeing some struggles to start off the season, winning one of their first 11 games, the Lancers stuck together and grinded through, which led to picking up a trio of straight wins toward the end of the regular season.

“It was probably about the Hancock game [on Jan. 26 in an 86-49 loss, right before the three-game win streak], and the Red Rock game [first game of the win streak], is when we had a back-to-back night,” Lalim said regarding a turning point in the season. “We tweaked some lineups a little bit, and we found some groups that played well together.”

Canby defeated Red Rock Central, Yellow Medicine East and Minneota all in a row between Jan. 27 and Feb. 9, including a 12-point win over the Vikings.

Lalim noted that he and the team are already looking forward to getting back to work with a strong mindset and dedication to make next season even more memorable, with its large group of experienced returners coming back once more.

Photo by Samantha Davis: Canby's Will Abrahamson brings the ball up the court on a fastbreak against Tracy-Milroy-Balaton on Feb. 13.

“We brought back a lot of guys last year, so we were able to carry over some of that chemistry from the year before. Like we’ve mentioned, we only graduate two seniors, so we still get a lot of people that are playing. So I think the team chemistry will just keep improving,” Lalim said. “Towards the end of the year, we had the starting five of the last six games that came in and played well, and all five of them get to come back next year. We [will] kind of keep building off that, then we’ll have a couple more bench players to join us, too.”