Photo by Samantha Davis. Westbrook-Walnut Grove's Hudsen Jenniges drives to the lane in the first half against Lakeview Friday night at Minneota High School in the Candy Cane Classic Tournament. Jenniges finished with 18 points in the Chargers' 70-61 win.

MINNEOTA — The Westbrook-Walnut Grove boys basketball team survived a halftime deficit to defeat Lakeview 70-61 at Minneota High School on Friday in the first day of the Candy Cane Classic weekend tournament. Drew Swanson had a game-high 23 points, and the Lakers remain looking for its first win of the season.

“I’m really proud of our guys for hanging in there throughout the first half. I thought that Lakeview did a great job of moving the ball offensively and putting us in some awkward situations,” WWG coach Derrick Jenniges said. “I feel like they survived it and were able to come out with a good victory here tonight.”

In addition to Swanson, Hudsen Jenniges finished with 18 points for WWG. Braylon Breyfogle led Lakeview with 21 points.

Neither team led by double digits in the game. Lakeview went into halftime with a 4-point lead over WWG and was efficient from the arc in the first half. But, the Chargers’ second-half zone defense presented challenges to Lakeview and set up the comeback.

The Chargers, now 4-1, have so far turned things around this season after starting last year 1-4. Ahead of Friday, two of their three wins have come by double digits.

The Lakers have struggled to find their way into the win column, but have only lost their first three contests by one or two possessions, falling 58-55 to Heron Lake-Okabena-Fulda in the season opener, 64-59 to Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop and 55-52 Renville County West on Tuesday this week.

“It’s never fun to lose. We’ve had a lot of close games. Our guys have really competed, and you can’t fault their effort,” Lakeview coach Jared Keaveny said. “It’s going to happen for us. Good things will happen when you’re working hard.”

WWG and Lakeview are competing to better their 2023 runs after both finishing 6-22 overall.

The first half went nearly basket-for-basket, and neither team earned more than a 6-point lead until the Lakers began to slightly pull away toward the end of the half behind solid ball movement, but the Chargers prevented a double digit lead from taking place.

“We were in a very good rhythm moving the basketball. I thought we took care of it very well,” Keaveny said. “We found the open areas, and attacked the gaps well. Shots were going in and things looked good.”

Jenniges and Swanson were the primary scorers for WWG in the first half, with Jenniges going into the locker room with 13 points and Swanson with 8. Breyfogle led the Lakers at the time with 12 points.

Kyle Curry also finished the night with a career-high 10 points for the Chargers, and coach Jenniges applauded the team’s all-around offensive effort.

“I thought we had really good first half minutes from Kyle Curry offensively … He really sparked our offense when we were maybe needing some shots,” coach Jenniges said. “I also thought we got really good minutes from Max Wiborg, our freshman post came in. He played 15 minutes in the second half and got a couple rebounds and steals.”

Jenniges got the action started with a 3-pointer from the left wing, and Dylan Caron hit the same shot on the Lakers’ first possession in response.

Lakeview was strong from the arc, as 9 of its first 13 points came from 3-pointers.

“I thought they shot the ball really well and really made defense difficult for us,” coach Jenniges said. “We tried a combination of different things in the first half, and it didn’t really matter what we were doing, unfortunately offensively.”

With an early 13-9 Lakers advantage, Jenniges hit a jumper in the middle of the lane to keep the early game within a possession, which carried on most the half. A layup from Swanson tied it up at 13.

A few minutes later, Jenniges stole the ball and made the layup, but Lakeview’s Caron grabbed the charge to prevent WWG from taking a lead with a 23-22 edge.

Jenniges made it up on the defensive end with a block on Cody Helmke going up for a short jumper.

Lakeview’s ball movement became more apparent about midway through the half, making the extra pass on a few consecutive plays to create an opening for a drive inside, including layups from Breyfogle and Tyden Marczak.

The Lakers’ found themselves up 35-26, until Swanson stopped the short run with a corner 3-pointer to bring the game back within 6 points.

The half ended with a pair of free throws from Jenniges after attracting a blocking foul, for WWG’s 39-35 trail.

The Chargers came out of the half more put together, and grabbed three straight baskets to take its first lead since tip off at 43-39 and forced Lakeview to call a timeout.

“We just had to talk a little bit offensively about how we want to move the ball and not be stagnant,” coach Jenniges said about his message at half time. “We were able to score right out of the half on those first two possessions to take the lead, which gave them a little energy.”

Breyfogle stopped WWG’s run with a jump shot on the right side of the lane, but Lakeview began to struggle with turnovers as the Chargers’ went into a 2-3 zone defense and forced a handful of steals.

“We felt like we needed to put them in some positions where they needed to make some decisions earlier in the shot clock,” coach Jenniges said. “I feel like we weren’t doing a good job of guarding early in the clock … Credit tour guys for making that adjustment and figuring that out.”

Lakeview struggled with adjustment to the zone, and got double-teamed on the outside wings which resulted in a few turnovers.

“They trapped us really well, and I think we panicked a lot,” Keaveny said. “We were trying to get the ball to the high post, and our guys were a little bit slow getting to that rotation.”

WWG created more spark in its offense after Swanson crashed the lane for the and-1 and made the free throw for a 61-52 lead.

Breyfogle brought Lakeview back within a 4-point reach after grabbing a charge on defense and hit a 3 from the left wing.

The Lakers started to find an answer to the zone defense with passes in and out of the lane, growing the intensity of the final few minutes.

In the final minute of the game with the Chargers holding a 68-61 lead, Lakeview committed a few fouls to get WWG to the free throw line until time ran out.

“We’re just a couple of plays away. That’s what we really emphasize,” Keaveny said. “We just need to make one or two plays more, and we’re going to get there.”

Both teams have a quick turnaround and will play again today at Minneota on the final day of the Candy Cane Classic.

Lakeview, 0-4, will take on Heron Lake-Okabena/Fulda, 2-2, at 1:30 p.m., while WWG, 4-1, has a 3 p.m. tip off against Minneota, 2-1.

“The hard part is, this is our back-to-back-to-back. Tomorrow will be our third in a row in less than 65 hours,” coach Jenniges said, as WWG also played Adrian-Ellsworth on Thursday. “We’ll see what we have left in the tank … We’re looking forward to coming back tomorrow.”