HAYFIELD — The Vikings showed they’re not ones to back away from pressure in a 76-66 win over Stewartville in a boys basketball game in Hayfield Monday.

After leading by as many as 12 in the second half, Hayfield (10-11 overall) saw Stewartville hit four threes in a four-minute span as the Tigers jumped out to a 62-58 lead with 3:45 left in the game.

Hayfield sophomore Bobbie Stephens converted a four-point play to tie it at 62 with 3:34 left, but Stewartville’s Brandon Larson hit two free throws to put the Tigers (7-13 overall) up 64-62 with 3:18.

That’s when Tanner Kramer, who had missed a lay-up minutes earlier, squared up from the wing and drilled a contested three to put the Vikings up for good with 3:18 left.

“Good shooters keep on shooting and I just decided shoot it because we were down and it went in,” said Kramer, a senior guard who had 21 points, three rebounds and two assists. “I don’t really know (how much it was contested). I just focus in on the rim and I see the distance and shoot it.”

After Kramer’s three, Hayfield forced Stewartville’s sixth turnover of the night when senior guard Clint Freiheit converted a lay-up off a steal to make it 67-64. Freiheit recognized that the Tigers were setting up a play for Isaac Tapp, who scored 18.

“I saw Tapp go off that screen and I thought I was in the seam so I played the passing lane and got in front of him,” said Freiheit, who had five points, four rebounds and two assists. “I was a little worried I was going to miss (the lay-up), but I got there.”

Hayfield, which had just four turnovers on the night, closed out the game by knocking down five-of-six free throws and Kody Kramer got free on a breakaway to make it 72-64. Kody Kramer scored 25 points, but Stewartville held him to eight in the second half.

“Kody got us going with some easy ones earlier. Then they started doubling and he realized he couldn’t do it by himself and some other guys started stepping up for us,” Hayfield head coach Chris Pack said.

The Tigers also contained Stephens, Hayfield’s sharp-shooter, until his four-point play. Stephens scored eight, but that shot was his only field goal.

“I knew they were going to focus on stopping Bobbie. It was good that he was patient enough to wait for it to come to him,” Pack said. “We also got some big buckets from Brady Kramer and Ryan Connely.”

The Vikings led throughout most of the first half as they closed it with a 10-3 run that was capped by a Freiheit lay-up to beat the buzzer. The Vikings held a 41-31 lead at the break, but they couldn’t stop Stewartville’s Trevor Dale as he scored 11 points in the second half.

Still, the Vikings were able to regroup after relinquishing their lead.

“We just persevered,” Freiheit said. “We knew weren’t out of it, it was still a close game. We just did what we needed to do to win. This shows us that we can stick in games, even when momentum goes against us at the end.”

Stewartville 31 35 — 66

Hayfield 41 35 — 76

Hayfield scoring: Kody Kramer, 25; Tanner Kramer, 21; Bobbie Stephens, 8; Brady Kramer, 6; Tyler Krekling, 6; Clint Freiheit, 5; Ryan Connely, 4; Nathan Conroy, 1; free throws: 66 percent (25-for-38); rebounds: 33 (Conroy, 7); turnovers: 4

Stewartville scoring: Isaac Tapp, 18; Brandon Larsen, 17; Trevor Dale, 13; John Gisler, 9; Tyler Schmitz, 4; Sean Hohmeister, 3; Gabe Langseth, 2; free throws: 76 percent (13-for-17); rebounds: 26 (Gisler, 5); turnovers: 6