Despite the Knights’ last-minute heroics, which were led by senior forward Alan Young’s 21 points, Lake Region held out for a 56-54 victory in a eye-opening boys’ basketball game.

But the Lakers owned the court in the first half, building what looked like an insurmountable 29-18 halftime lead.

“We had a few bad stretches where it kind of got away from what we do really well, and they were able to get some separation,” Poland coach Tyler Tracy said. “Defensively, we mixed it up enough to keep them on their toes and hang around. It’s just unfortunate we just couldn’t get it going until the end.

“I am very proud of (Young’s) performance. I am very proud of the entire team, but Alan is a representative of that.”

When the Knights came back out on the court in the third quarter, Young and the rest of team started chipping away at the Lakers’ lead.

“(The Lakers) are tough. They are a very good team,” Tyler said. “They have a lot of confidence; they play pretty well together. We just can’t have the lulls against a good team like that.”

Young, who was ailing with the flu, connected with six straight points, which included four free throws. Junior guard Trevor Saunders (10 points) helped out with a three-point play, but the feisty Lakers held on for 44-33 going into the fourth quarter.

It became clear that the Knights weren’t going to allow the Lakers to walk away with the game in the final stanza.

Derek Michaud (10 points) and Saunders were the fuses in Poland’s explosive fourth quarter when they combined for six points.

The score was now 48-39 in favor of Lake Region with under three minutes after Young went under for two points and Saunders hit two more free throws.

With 1:05 left in the game, Young scored twice from underneath and hit two more from the charity stripe, but the Lakers still held 52-49 lead with 57 seconds left after Lake Region’s Jack Lesure (11 points) hit two free throws.

Michaud dropped in a 3-pointer to make it 56-52, but Nate Smith hit a four free throws to keep his Lakers ahead by four points. Young added a tip-in shot from underneath the basket at the buzzer, but the Lakers held on for a two-point victory.

Young left immediately after the game. The Knights were also without big man John Fossett, who is also battling the flu.

“First of all, this was their senior night and they have four seniors who a pretty proud kids. They weren’t going to go down without a fight,” Lake Region coach J.P. Yorkey said. “Alan Young is a very good player and I hear he is a little under the weather today, but he still made some big shots.

“I give some credit to them. They did something differently on defense that threw us off balance.”