And right now, the Webster City boys’ basketball team is swimming in the deep end of the momentum pool.

Fresh off back-to-back wins over North Central Conference powers Clear Lake and fourth-ranked (Class 3A) Humboldt last week, the Lynx (12-8, 9-5 NCC) closed out their league slate with a 64-59 victory over Algona Tuesday night inside the WCHS gymnasium.

The victory clinched a share of third place in the NCC with Clear Lake (15-9, 9-5 NCC). They trailed only co-champions Humboldt and Clarion-Goldfield-Dows, which were three games clear of the field.

“Finishing third is a big deal and the way we did it was great,” WCHS head coach Marty McKinney said. “After that (loss to Iowa Falls-Alden just prior to the wins over Clear Lake and Humboldt), we were pretty down and didn’t feel very good about ourselves. We could have sat around, pouted and just finished it out, but instead the guys got back to work.

WCHS senior Devon Stoakes takes an uncontested 3-pointer from the wing against Algona on Tuesday. He scored nine points in the Lynx win. DFJ photo/David Borer

“If you would have told me at the beginning of the year that we were going to finish our conference season with wins over Clear Lake, Humboldt and Algona, I would have taken that. That’s a pretty good stretch.”

Senior forward Jamin Stuhr unleashed a 22-point performance on Algona (8-13, 4-10 NCC), and equally important was the defense he played on the Bulldogs’ Tyler Manske, who scored seven early points before Stuhr took the assignment. Manske finished with 16 points, but Stuhr made him work.

“Jamin was great,” McKinney said. “When he brings that amount of energy, it’s just contagious to everybody. He did a lot of different things for us.”

Ty McKinney dropped in 14 points and Briar Klaver came off the bench to provide 10 points and nine rebounds in the win. And while Algona focused on containing Jaime Grossoehme on the perimeter, Devon Stoakes stepped up to drain three 3-pointers for nine points. Grossoehme finished with seven points.

Garrett Goche (15 points) and Simon Feucht (14 points) joined Manske in double figures for Algona.

After a slow start that resulted in a 14-7 deficit after one quarter, WCHS found its rhythm and eventually took a 27-24 lead into the break.

The game remained close throughout the second half. The Lynx stretched their lead to eight on multiple occasions, but Algona buried five of its nine 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to stay close. The two teams combined to score 49 fourth-quarter points.

WCHS will wrap up the regular season with a non-conference game at Boone tonight and then it’s on to preparations for Monday’s 3A substate quarterfinal against Waverly-Shell Rock in Waverly.

McKinney says it’s imperative his team play well tonight to keep the positive energy entering the postseason.

“We want to go in there and play well,” he said. “Right now we’ve got momentum going into the tournament, but that can turn around quickly if we’re not ready to go.”

Webster City 64, Algona 59

Tuesday at Webster City

Algona (8-13, 4-10 NCC) — Garrett Goche 6 1-2 15, Tyler Manske 6 3-5 16, Jackson Cecil 0 0-2 0, Caden Weber 3 2-2 9, Simon Feucht 5 0-0 14, Alex Manske 1 0-0 3, Tristin Larsen 0 0-0 0, Landon Welp 0 0-0 0, Ben Helmers 1 0-0 2. Totals: 21 6-11 59.

Webster City (12-8, 9-5 NCC) — Jaime Grossoehme 3 0-3 7, Jayce Neuroth 0 0-0 0, Devon Stoakes 3 0-0 9, Ty McKinney 6 2-4 14, Braden Doering 0 0-0 0, Briar Klaver 3 3-4 10, Jamin Stuhr 9 3-4 22, Beau Klaver 0 2-4 2. Totals: 24 10-19 64.

Algona 14 10 8 27 — 59

Webster City 7 20 15 22 — 64

3-point field goals — ALG 9 (Feucht 4, Goche 2, T. Manske, Weber, A. Manske); WC 6 (Stoakes 3, Grossoehme, Klaver, Stuhr). Rebounds — WC 21 (Br. Klaver 9). Steals — WC 6 (Neuroth 3). Assists — WC 21 (Neuroth 9, McKinney 8). Turnovers — WC 10. Team fouls — ALG 19, WC 14. Fouled out — none.