The Prior Lake boys basketball team is building momentum toward the Section 2AAAA playoffs.

Senior Dawson Garcia scored a game-high 34 points, while senior Dylan Bair finished with 20 in the Lakers' 87-81 South Suburban Conference home win over No. 2-ranked Eastview Feb. 18.

Prior Lake (15-7 overall, 12-3 in the SSC) has won six straight games, and is back on the league court Feb. 21 at Burnsville at 7 p.m.

The Lakers' final two SSC games to end the regular season are at Eagan Feb. 24 and home to Lakeville North Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. Section 2AAAA playoff brackets come Feb. 29.

The Lakers are looking like the No. 4 seed at this point behind top-ranked Eden Prairie (24-0), No. 9 Chaska (20-3) and No. 4 Shakopee (18-5).

Other teams in the field include Minnetonka (11-12), Edina (12-12), Chanhassen (5-18) and Bloomington Jefferson (6-15).

Quarterfinal play starts March 4 with the semifinals March 7. The title game is March 13, and the higher seed is at home in all three rounds.

Eden Prairie is the defending champion, beating Prior Lake 62-45 in last year's title game.

In the win over Eastview, Prior Lake led 40-34 at the break, but the Lightning opened the second half on a 10-3 spurt to take a 1-point lead. The Lakers responded with a 16-3 run of their own to take control. 

For Garcia, it was his 10th straight game of 30 or more points. He leads the Lakers at 32.3 points per game.

Junior Tommy Mestnik had a career-high for Prior Lake, finishing with 14 points. Senior Tyree Ihenacho scored 9, followed by sophomore Malcom Jones with 8 and senior DJ Doyen with 2.

Eastview beat Prior Lake 75-66 back on Jan. 21. Garcia was in foul trouble in that loss and finished with a season-low 14 points. 

The Lakers are 8-2 since that defeat and are one game behind Eastview in the SSC standings with three to play. Shakopee is tied with the Lakers for second.