Photo by Samantha Davis. Tracy-Milroy-Balaton's Noah Knakmuhs attempts a layup in the first half against Springfield Friday night in Tracy. Knakmuhs finished with 13 points in the Panthers' 66-63 loss.

TRACY — In a game of 3-pointers and lead changes that came down to the final seconds, the Tracy-Milroy-Balaton boys basketball team fell in a 66-63 heartbreaker to No. 9 Springfield Friday night at home. The night saw 19 3’s, 10 from the Tigers and nine from the Panthers.

Both teams went scoreless for a few minutes midway through the second until Noah Knakmuhs got the hot-hand himself for two consecutive 3-pointers from opposite ends of the wing to put the Panthers up 56-47 with about eight minutes to go.

Springfield limited Trevor Smith’s second half looks, but Knakmuhs continued to take matters into his own hands as he hit another 3 to give TMB a 10-point lead at 59-49 with five minutes remaining.

“Noah, he’s like the perfect team guy. He plays defense, doesn’t shoot a ton, but when he hits them, I think it really helps,” TMB head coach Ryan Kruse said. “Our guys really appreciate and like it, because they know what he does for our team. He had a couple big ones at that moment and got us going.”

Alex Munson recorded a 19-point and 21-rebound double-double, as Smith led with 21 points. Knakmuhs also tallied 13 points behind a trio of 3’s.

Brecken Heiling brought the Tigers back within 4 points, 59-55, after continuing the game’s trend with another 3-pointer.

Heiling continued to show up big for Springfield with another 3 to tie the score up at 59 with less than three minutes left.

With 45 seconds of game to go with a tied score at 61, Springfield’s Bryan Buerkle worked the lane and spun around the defense to find the basket to put the Tigers up by 2 points.

Smith responded with a layup of his own to again tie the game at 63, but with the clock running down and the ball in Springfield’s possession, Buerkle drove the lane and got fouled for the and-1 with the free throw to put the Tigers ahead 66-63 with six seconds to go.

Springfield forced a last second turnover and tipped the ball out of bounds as TMB was dribbling the ball up the court for the final possession, which put the clock down to one second and ultimately finished the game.

“This was a good challenge for us,” Kruse said. “We were expecting a battle.”

TMB and the Tigers went back and forth throughout the entire game trading baskets, with both teams holding a 10-point lead at one point.

“They [Springfield] got off to a good lead, and we battled back in the first half, and then we had the lead in the second half, and they battled back,” Kruse said. “They just made the plays down the stretch that we didn’t quite make. It was a perfect game, I think, for us to go into the playoffs with.”

Springfield went into the locker room with a 5-point edge, and although TMB continued its fight to the end and created a lead in the second half, the Tigers pulled through in the final minute with an and-1 possession and forced a Panther turnover on their final possession to finish the game.

Overall, TMB shot 40% from the field, to Springfield’s 44% shooting mark.

The Panthers were on a nine-game win streak, which had been their longest of the season. Prior to Friday, they had not lost a game since Jan. 21 when it fell short by 3 points to Russell-Tyler-Ruthton, 61-58.

“We expected to do well. I mean, you don’t know what’s going to happen in some of the games, but we figured we would have a pretty good season,” Kruse said. “I thought we have finished pretty well with a bunch of wins before this one. It’s a really good group of guys, and they’re ready to keep playing.”

Neither team could break out on a large lead throughout the first half. Although Springfield shot aggressively from the 3-point line from the start, TMB was able to find several good looks inside to pair with Smith’s first-half outside shooting before getting more efficient at the arc in the second half.

Smith led TMB with 19 first-half points with three makes at the arc, while Buerkle had 13 and Parker Kuehn followed with 10.

Springfield had a 39-34 lead coming out of halftime, showcasing the game would come down to the final moments.

“We were not real great the first eight minutes, but after that, I thought we played really good on both sides of the ball,” Kruse said. “We really played well the last second [half]. We felt like we were doing things right at that point, and we had to keep doing it.”

TMB took its first lead shortly into the second half with back-to-back 3-pointers from Munson and Griffin Zick, 44-42, bringing excitement into the packed Panthers’ gym.

Zick nailed another 3, finishing with 6 points, while Heiling ended the Panthers’ run with a 3-pointer.

“It was some big shots by them [TMB in the second half], which is what we expect out of them,” Kruse said. “They were ready to shoot, and we did a good job finding them [open players].”

Heiling finished with a game-high 22 points and went 4 of 7 from the arc.

TMB struggled with a few putback attempts, however maintained a strong rebounding effort to limit the Tigers’ chances where it could.

The Panthers outrebounded Springfield 38-29, 26 of which were defensive.

To start the night off, Smith had TMB’s first 7 points behind a pair of field goals and a 3-pointer.

With a 9-9 tie to start the game, Springfield’s Kuehn hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put the Tigers up 18-11 early.

TMB committed a string of turnovers, which allowed the Tigers to build a double-digit advantage, however Aidan Swenhaugen ended the Panthers’ scoring drought with a feed inside from Munson.

Smith began to heat up to catch TMB back up with a 3 and two consecutive midrange jumpers to bring the Panthers’ to a 27-20 deficit.

Springfield’s Dylan Simonson drilled a 3 of his own, answered by another Smith 3-pointer.

Both teams were put in bonus for the final few minutes of the first half, each making a few trips to the line.

With seconds winding down in the first, Smith brought TMB within 2 with a 36-34 deficit, yet the Tigers’ Buerkle sank a 3-pointer from the top of the key at the buzzer to give Springfield a 39-34 halftime lead.

TMB (21-5) will next face its second straight ranked opponent when it hosts No. 3 Dawson-Boyd (22-3) on Monday at 7 p.m. for the Camden Conference championship and its final home game, before going into the postseason Section 3A tournament.

The Panthers and Blackjacks recently met on Jan. 10, also in Tracy, and TMB suffered a 91-67 loss.

“We have played them before, so we know what they do and they know what we do,” Kruse said. “We are just going to have to come to battle, because they’re as good as you get, and they have played really well.”