File photo by Steve Muscatello Sleepy Eye’s Ben Laffen goes up for a shot during a recent game in Sleepy Eye.

SLEEPY EYE — The Sleepy Eye Indians put up 16 points in the early minutes of the second half and defeated Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart 71-58 in the Section 2A boys’ Basketball playoffs on Thursday night.

“We just really wanted it tonight, coming out tonight we didn’t want to be done, this may be our last chance so let’s go after it,” Sleepy Eye senior Zach Haala said.

The Indians and the Mustangs split the regular season with each team winning at home.

The Indians were able to out rebound the Mustangs (7-19) on both sides of the court to add a key factor in the victory for the Indians. BLHS was able to pull down rebounds in the first few minutes of the first half with the height advantage going to the Mustangs center Payton Diepold, standing 6-feet-6 inches.

“[Deipold] had a nice game in the middle and we have to have that, we decided to press and Deipold did not make it easy for [the Indians],” Mustangs coach Scott Powers said.

BLHS had a strong start with rebounding the ball and opening a 7-0 lead in the first two minutes of the game.

The Indians responded with an 8-0 run, going 3-for-4 from the free throw line, Paco Eliserio hit a field goal from deep in the paint and Haala netted his first 3-pointer of the game.

The Mustangs were able to react to the Indians by taking away most of the lanes and match their opponents on the scoreboard.

“We were able to cut down on the lanes better than normal, but they just out rebounded us throughout the first half. I thought the kids played hard we just missed the shots, give Sleepy Eye credit, we had to find another way to score,” Powers said.

Trent Weispfennig hit both free throws, out of the bonus, to give the Mustangs a 20-16 lead with 7:11 still left to play in the first half.

Sleepy Eye’s Jon Mickelson pulled down a board and with the putback was able to go to the free throw line, making it a 3-point play as the Indians retook the lead at 28-27 with just over 2 minutes left to play in the first half. Mickelson hit a field goal from deep in the paint to push the Indians up to a 30-27 lead just 20 seconds later in the first half.

“We did a good job tonight of keeping them off the glass which helped us get out and transition some offense,” Mickelson said. “It is my senior year and I want to give it the best run we have and make it the most while I am still here.”

The Indians led 32-30 at halftime.

Weispfennig hit a long 3-pointer for the Mustangs early in the second half but the Indians controlled the boards after that

“Coming out of halftime, we had intensity and we wanted to push the tempo to get a quick lead and never looked back,” Haala said.

The Mustangs were led by Weispfennig with 16 points. Elijah Stifter finished with 12 points, and Diepold scored 11 points with six rebounds. Stefan Johnson scored 10 points.

Haala led the Indians with 20 points and five rebounds, Mickelson had 11 points with six boards and Heiderscheidt and Laffen each scored 10 points.

Sleepy Eye will take on Mayer Lutheran at 7 p.m. on Monday in Mayer.