The Class 4A playoffs officially start next Tuesday, but don’t tell that to the players, coaches and fans of Lakeville North and Apple Valley as the defending state champions held on for a 59-56 overtime road win at Lakeville North.

The playoff atmosphere was already in the building as a packed house watched Lakeville North hit a late 3-pointer to win the junior varsity game 65-64 in overtime, pushing the start of the varsity contest back 15 minutes. It was also hard to forget the 79-75 overtime thriller between the two teams the last time the Panthers hosted a game between the two 2013 state tournament teams.

Apple Valley standout Tyus Jones scored the first four points of overtime with a backdoor cut that resulted in a three-point play and added one free throw. The Eagles extended the lead to 55-47, but North refused to go away as Calven Pesola hit a 3-pointer and Macura and Stewart each add a layup to cut the lead to 55-54.

Jones made one of two free throws to make it a two-point lead, but Macura’s pass was intercepted by Dennis Austin and Lakeville North was called for an intentional breakaway foul. Austin made both technical free throws, and Jones added another point from the charity stripe to make it 59-54.

Drew Stewart scored a last-second layup for North, but Apple Valley didn't have to inbound the ball and improved to 24-1 overall and 17-0 in the South Suburban Conference with the win.

Jones paced the Eagles with 25 points as he made seven of 14 shots from the field. The normally automatic free-throw shooter was just 10 of 16 from the line. He had been shooting as high as 96 percent earlier in the season.

Deniis Austin added twelve points, and Bertram had nine points and 10 rebounds, depsite playing just 18 minutes because of foul difficulties. Apple Valley outrebounded Lakeville North 37-26

J.P. Macura led the Panthers with 27 points. He was seven of 17 from the field and 12 of 14 from the charity stripe, but he made just one of eight 3-pointers as the Eagles refused to let him heat up from deep range. He added seven rebounds and six asists. The Panthers were just three of 20 from 3-point range after making 15 of 30 in their previous matchup.

Apple Valley head coach Zach Goring said the close win was needed heading into postseason play. The Eagles had won 14 of their previous 16 conferecne games by 20 or more points.  

"It was good for us," said Goring, "Going into tonight, the conference championship was on the line. Lakeville North had a great year and has been right on our heels all year. Great atmosphere.

"Kind of gets us ready for tourney time. The kids are ready to go and we survived tonight. This game could have gone either way and we were able to make plays at the end and into overtime and that was the difference."   

Lakeville North fell to 20-5 and 15-2 in conference play. The Panthers had won nine of their previous 10 games since their loss to Apple Valley.