Photo by Jake McNeill: Minneota guard Lincoln Jerzak, middle, attempts a layup in the lane during the first half of a prep boys basketball game against Canby on Tuesday night at Canby High School.

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CANBY — After an offensive lull late in the first half, the Minneota boys basketball team regained its footing out of the break to pick up a road win over Canby on Tuesday night. Despite leading by just 2 points at halftime, the Vikings exploded coming out of the locker room to lead by as many as 20 points before claiming an 84-71 win.

Despite first-half shooting struggles sending Minneota into the locker room with a deflated lead, the Vikings started the second half reinvigorated. Tate Peterson quickly came up with a steal and scored to bring Minneota’s lead back to two possessions and Lucas Rybinski followed up with an and-1 layup to keep the momentum flowing.

While Rybinski couldn’t get the free throw to go down, the Vikings grabbed the offensive rebound and dished out to Adam Dalager at the top of the key for 3, bringing Minneota’s lead back to double digits at 43-23.

The Vikings went on to score 12 unanswered points to start the half before Jack Abrahamson ended the Canby drought with a layup off the glass. Yet, Dalager responded with a 3 on the other end to give Minneota its largest lead of the game at the time, 50-34, with under 16 minutes remaining.

After trailing by as many as 17 points, he Lancers found a rhythm late in the first half to make a game of things heading into the break.

Cayden Anderson knocked down a putback layup to bring the Lancers back within single digits with four minutes to play, 33-24, and Owen Peterson was fouled on a made 3-pointer and knocked down the free throw to bring the Lancers within 5.

The Canby run continued as Jack Abrahamson hit a pair of free throws to make it a one-possession game. A travel on the other end of the floor gave Canby the ball back with the chance to tie or go ahead, but they couldn’t knock down the shot.

Following another Minneota bucket, Anderson knocked down a pair of free throws in the half’s final seconds to cut Canby’s deficit to 35-32 at halftime.

Rybinski had the hot hand for Minneota in the game’s opening minutes, knocking down a 3-pointer and grabbing a steal to set up his own layup on the first two Vikings possessions. After a Canby free throw, Leo Hennen converted a 3-pointer and Peterson hit a layup to give Minneota a 10-1 lead through two minutes.

Hennen kept the ball rolling with another 3-pointer to cap off Minneota’s 15-1 run through the game’s first three-and-a-half minutes.

Canby didn’t get its first field goal until more than five minutes in, making the score 20-5 with the basket. Still, Minneota’s lead teetered between 15 and 11 points until Canby started to get in the swing of things with 10 minutes left in the half.

Creed Stassen hit a bucket with 10 minutes remaining in the second half to help Minneota bring its lead past the 20-point mark, 63-45.

Again, Canby slowly worked its way back, trimming Minneota’s lead back to 10 points with under six minutes remaining. Still, Rybinski grabbed a rebound and tapped it back into the basket before he landed to bring the Vikings’ lead back to 12 points and the Lancers never got back within single digits.

Minneota improves to 11-14 with the win and will wrap up its regular season on the road when it takes on Luverne (15-7) on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.

Canby falls to 1-22 with the loss and will aim to stage a major upset when it goes on the road to face No. 9 Cedar Mountain (20-3) in Morgan for its regular-season finale on Friday at 7:15 p.m.