The contest between Hibbing, ranked No. 10 in Class 3A by Minnesota Basketball News, and the Hylanders was a tight contest throughout, featuring eight ties and 13 lead changes. Neither team led by more than five points until late in the second half, when Columbia Heights used a 10-2 run to lead 54-47 with 5:05 to play.

The Bluejackets (2-1, 2-0) managed to cut the lead to one point with 11.8 seconds left but couldn’t complete the comeback, despite 24 points from Mayson Brown and 14 from Tre Holmes.

Jordan Jones scored a game-high 28 points to lead Columbia Heights (4-0, 0-0) while teammates Jamez Garner and Muja Burton each added nine.

While traveling to face competition that includes Columbia Heights, No. 7-4 Hopkins and No. 1-3A Minnehaha Academy this winter is clearly a difficult journey, the road the Bluejackets are taking this season got tougher because of early season injuries to juniors Parker Maki and Payton Forer.

"Parker is 6-6 and athletic, and you could see today we can always use a guy like him to rebound and protect the paint," Joel McDonald said. "He rolled his ankle in a scrimmage, and we hope to have him back soon. But their perimeter guys are so quick that they got into the lane for good scoring chances, and they were able to get second chances as well.

"And Payton would be our sixth or seventh guy, but he tore his ACL. He's a big, physical guy who does a lot of dirty work like blocking out and screening."

Still, the Bluejackets were not embarrassed on the boards as the taller Hylanders finished with a narrow 31-28 rebound advantage. And Hibbing had just 13 turnovers despite the constant defensive pressure.

"We were pretty resilient — we made enough plays to give ourselves a chance at the end," Joel McDonald said. "A lot of the things we saw today are things we can't simulate in practice, and I think we handled the pressure pretty well.

"I think fatigue might have gotten to us at the end. But there were things that we did well that gave us a chance to win."

Ayden McDonald agreed with that assessment.

"At times we were patient on offense, and that's when we were moving the ball well and creating scoring chances for Tre and Mayson."

So what did Hibbing learn on this leg of its season-long journey?

"We know the 'Road to 4K' wouldn't be a piece of cake," Joel McDonald said. "But that's why we play games like this, and we hope we are better for it. ... Now we want to learn from what we just experienced. We know if we're going to get to that four-thousandth mile, and the state tournament, we've got to be tough and resilient. And that's what these games will teach us."