Photo by Jake McNeill: Tracy-Milroy-Balaton guard Alex Munson, center, elevates up over Lakeview’s Braylon Breyfogle to atteumpt a layup during the first half of a prep boys basketball game at Tracy-Milroy-Balaton High School on Friday night.

TRACY — An early series of scoring barrages from the Tracy-Milroy-Balaton boys basketball team decided the Panthers’ Friday game against Lakeview by halftime. TMB built up a 30-point advantage by the half and cruised to a 69-37 win. 

The Panthers didn’t take long to establish a sizable lead. TMB held Lakeview scoreless for the game’s first six minutes before Jackson Staab ended the drought with a putback layup. 

During that run, the TMB offense also found its rhythm. Alex Munson was the night’s first scorer with a turnaround jumper, and a Taylor Swenhaugen post basket and a Munson layup off an assist from Griffin Zick quickly made the Panther edge 6-0. 

Munson carried that intensity over to the defensive side of the court, where he blocked a Laker shot from behind, recovered the loose ball, and dished it to Trevor Smith for a corner 3 on the opposite end. A Ryker Davis second-chance basket closed out the run at 13-0.

“We just came out with a lot of energy,” TMB head coach Ryan Kruse said. “That’s the best half of defense I’ve seen us play. Just a lot of hands on the basketball. We rebounded well when they forced some tough shots, but it was just a really good half all the way through.”

Fresh off scoring his 2,000th career point over the weekend, Smith led TMB with a game-high 21 points on 9 of 20 shooting from the field. Munson contributed another 20 points in the game while Zick added another 8 points for TMB in the game. Braylon Breyfogle led Lakeview with 13. 

“He’s special. It just doesn’t happen very often, so to score that many points, you have to be really good for a long time,” Kruse said. “I remember seeing him in eighth grade score 30-something in a game. The way he’s gone from being a 3-point shooter, with what they needed when he was younger, to now doing everything, he posts up, shares the ball well, he’s just a really special player.”

After Lakeview got on the board, Smith took over for TMB. The senior forward drained back-to-back 3s and knocked down a runner to go on a solo 8-0 run. 

Noah Knakmuhs and Zick then each came up with steals and easy transition layups to bring TMB’s lead up to 25-2 before a Carson Boe bucket ended another five-minute scoring drought for Lakeview. Knakmuhs finished the game with three steals while Zick and Munson each added another two.

“[Knakmuhs and Zick] have been great all year long. They got some big steals for us, but they also get a lot of tips and steals for other guys too,” Kruse said. “They just do a really good job up there pressuring and still not getting beat, and then turning that into offense.”

Zick also dished out a game-high seven assists with one turnover for TMB, while Alex Munson added another four assists. Tyden Marczak led Lakeview with four as well.

The Lakers didn’t get much more competitive from there, as TMB pulled away for a 44-14 lead at halftime. Smith alone outscored the Lakers with 15 points while Munson added another 10 at the break. Helmke led Lakeview with 6 first-half points. 

“We have reads, we have counters, and I think we did a good job of actually using them [later in the game],” Keaveny said. “The first half, I think we just tried to force the issue. TMB tried to make us play a certain way and instead of using our counters, using our reads and getting easy shots, we tried to force it and kind of push through them.”

TMB outrebounded Lakeview 37-32 on the night, including a 17-10 edge on the offensive glass. Munson led the game with 10 total rebounds while Davis contributed four on the offensive glass. Helmke led Lakeview with eight total rebounds and two offensive boards. 

With 9:40 remaining, Knakmuhs came up with a steal and a layup to extend the Panthers’ lead to 35 points, 63-28, to trigger the running clock once the game reached the nine-minute mark. TMB substituted out its starters with just over three minutes remaining.

TMB improves to 8-1 with Friday’s result while Lakeview falls to 4-6. 

The Panthers will look to keep their momentum going when they head across Minnesota’s western border to take on Custer (S.D.) in Madison, S.D. today at noon. Lakeview, meanwhile, will look to avoid its third consecutive loss when it heads to Tyler for a game against Russell-Tyler-Ruthton today at 2:30 p.m.

“We’ve been saying all year, we’ve been in every game until really tonight, and we told the guys that every night, you have to be ready to go,” Keaveny said, adding that he feels like 3A is one of the tougher boys basketball sections in the state. “Going on the road back-to-back nights, you’ve got to really understand that you have to have a short memory. You can’t hold onto this loss, you’ve got to learn from it and move on. That’s part of sports and hopefully our guys can clear their heads.”