Photo by Samantha Davis. Tracy-Milroy-Balaton senior Alex Munson drives to the lane past Minneota's Lincoln Jerzak in the first half Friday evening in Tracy. Munson scored his 1,000th career point in the Panther's 92-67 win.

TRACY — For Minneota’s season opener and Tracy-Milroy-Balaton’s home opener, it was the Panther’s boys basketball team who came away with a 92-67 win Friday evening where TMB senior Alex Munson scored his 1,000th career point after a free throw in the second half.

“It’s a great accomplishment. I think it says more about who we are as a team, more than as an individual,” Munson said. “But, I worked hard for this, so it feels great.”

TMB built up an 18-point lead at the half, and didn’t lose sight of its dominance at any point.

Although needing 26 points going into the night to get to 1,000, Munson finished with a game-high 32 points behind shooting 4 for 5 from the 3-point line and 10 for 11 from the free throw.

Trevor Smith followed with 27 points, and Griffin Zick added another 12 with four steals and four assists. Connor Lanoue had a game-high five steals.

“I think we played pretty well. So far, we are off to a good start,” TMB head coach Ryan Kruse said. “It was nice to be at home on a Friday night in front of a pretty good crowd. We were excited to play a good team, and we came out with a lot of energy.”

For Minneota, Leo Hennen finished with a team-high 22 points, while Lincoln Jerzak had 20 and Tate Peterson followed with 10 points.

Overall, TMB shot 45% from the field and 38% from the perimeter, and limited Minneota to shooting 35% from the field and 32% from the 3-point line.

TMB has started its season off on a good note. Despite starting 1-3 last year, the Panthers have worked up a 4-0 start this time around with three road victories after defeating Sleepy Eye 82-77 last Friday, Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s 77-76 last Saturday and Adrian-Ellsworth 80-45 on Tuesday.

The Panthers finished last season 17-10 overall.

“It’s so early. That team we just played will be a lot better … When we see them later in the year,” Kruse said. “But, it’s nice to be in that spot (starting 4-0) and still being able to get better.”

Minneota finished its 2023 campaign 22-8 overall and made it to the Section A championship, but fell to Central Minnesota Christian 72-60. The Vikings are looking to continue building off of last season’s success.

“We are experimenting to see what the true identity of this team is going to be,” Minneota head coach Chad Johnston said. “I saw a lot of effort tonight, so I was pretty happy with that.”

The two times Minneota and TMB played each other last season, the Vikings got away with wins of 61-54 on Dec. 12 and 65-57 on Feb. 9.

But, it was the Panthers who got their revenge Thursday night.

“We’ve got a lot of question marks with our team, but this is how you learn,” Johnston, who is coming off a fresh three-peat state championship run with the football team, said. “We knew it was going to be a tough game for us. I knew the shooting wasn’t probably going to be where we hope it’s going to be in a few weeks, but I’m pretty happy with our kids’ effort.”

The Panthers established control of the game right from the tip, and never let Minneota take a single lead throughout the entire game.

TMB shot effectively from the perimeter from the jump and continued to benefit off of Minneota turnovers, who struggled on a few occasions with ball handling errors, specifically when crashing the paint or going in for a layup.

Munson hit a 3-pointer from the left wing to get the game started.

Seconds later from the same spot, Smith drilled in another three for a quick 6-0 Panther lead within the first minute.

“I think our energy was great. The two three’s right away helped, and the crowd was amazing,” Munson said. “This is the biggest crowd I probably have ever played in front of, so I think that helped the defense, and our defense led to transition offense.”

Jerzak got Minneota its first points on the next possession with a layup, after crossing past a few defenders.

Jerzak and Easton Johnston both recorded three steals for Minneota.

After Smith made a jumper from the elbow, the Vikings began to full-court press, which they carried on the rest of the game. They were able to apply some pressure to TMB on a couple occasions, but the Panthers were able to break through it most of the time.

“We haven’t seen a lot of that (press) in the last couple years, so I wasn’t really expecting it,” Kruse said. “I think we did a pretty good job of it. We play basically four guards most of the time that can handle the ball … I think we could have done a better job in the first half of attacking off of it, then we slowed down, but the second half was better.”

Minneota’s Brody Larson and Peterson both got a charge in the first half, to bring spark to the Vikings’ defense. The foul was on Munson both times.

A defensive rebound resulted in a long pass down to the other end of the court in the arms of a wide open Zick for a corner 3-pointer.

In response to Zick’s bucket, Adam Dalager and Hennen each made a three for Minneota to cut into a 16-10 deficit.

But, Smith took matters into his own hands again with another wide open 3-pointer from the top of the key to halt Minneota’s momentum.

After a scoring drought for the Vikings, Carson Javers and Peterson ran up the court off a fast break on a 2-on-1 offense run, and made the layup.

“It felt like we were getting good looks, we were getting open shots,” Johnston said. “We did some good things early … It’s hard for us to say [what the team struggled with] when it was game number one for us, and game number four for them. We’re on a different level right now.”

TMB’s 46-28 comfortable lead at the half was led by Munson’s 22 points, Aidan Swenhaugen’s 14 points and Smith’s 15, while Peterson had 8 points for Minneota and Jerzak had 10.

Munson also finished with a game-high 12 rebounds, and Smith had 10.

The half ended with a Noah Knakmuhs foul on Jerzak who made the layup, and his free throw as well.

The Panthers didn’t slow down coming out of the locker room, as Munson hit a 3-pointer from the left wing. Minneota also continued to press full-court.

“We have to try to figure out how we replace the scoring from last year,” Johnston said. “We’ve got a lot of kids right now, and we’re trying to figure out where they fit. We figured the best thing for us is to try to play a lot of kids, and try to speed up the tempo.”

Minneota’s Hennen fought to get the Vikings within reach after a layup and three to cut into a 12-point trail at 58-46.

But, TMB continued to limit the Vikings chances at a comeback as Munson sank a pair of free throws after being fouled, which officially earned his 1,000th career point.

“It felt great,” Munson said regarding the moment when he made the last free throw. “I knew I wanted to get it, I knew how many points I needed. It was nervewracking, but it feels good.”

Munson was given a decorated game ball on the court after the accomplishment.

“I don’t think there’s too many guys that put much more time into it than Alex, so to see him get that 1,000 was pretty cool tonight, especially at home when he had a lot of relatives around,” Kruse said. “Like I told the team, it’s a team accomplishment. These guys have been playing together for a long time, that’s what creates it.”

The remainder of the game was all TMB, scoring and attacking on all cylinders while keeping a hefty lead.

“In the second half, you think about trying to slow it down maybe a little bit, and take time off the clock, but they were pressing and still attacking, so it was hard to slow down,” Kruse said. “But, I still think that was better for us … I’d rather that, than slow down and get out of the groove.”

TMB (4-0) will next look to stay in the win column when it travels to Canby (0-3) next Thursday at 7:15 p.m.

Minneota (0-1) will stay on the road when it travels to take on Yellow Medicine East (1-1) at 7:30 p.m. on Monday.

“We got to show up and play,” Johnston said. “Hopefully we can get things going in the right direction, come out with a W on Monday night, and just get to the positive side.”