Lac qui Parle Valley coach Ryan Giles has grown accustomed to being in close games. He has been involved in enough of them this year to span nearly an entire career.

The Eagles own a 9-7 record heading into Friday night’s battle at Benson with first place on the line in the south division of the West Central Conference.

The seven setbacks will leave one scratching his or her head. They are by a total of 13 points. That’s right, less than two points per game. Lac qui Parle Valley has lost three games by one point, three games by a bucket and one by a four-point margin.

Four of its losses have come by the way of buzzer-beating shots by their opposition – Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 43-42, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 52-51, MACCRAY 53-52 and Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 55-53.

“We may see throughout the course of a season maybe one or two ‘down-to-the-wire’ games,” Giles told the West Central Tribune. “But we have never experienced a stretch like we have this year.”

His squad is coming off a 47-44 victory over BOLD on Thursday night. Against Bold, the Eagles didn’t score until midway through the first half and trailed by as many as 12 points. They didn’t take third first lead until there was only 2 minutes remaining.

A three-point victory could be considered a blowout by Lac qui Parle Valley standards this season. They also own two one-point victories, 59-58 over Ortonville and 47-46 over Yellow Medicine East in overtime.

“The positive deal is that we can’t mimic these late-game situations in practice like they have had,” Giles said. “They all, as hard as it is, have made us a stronger, better and more prepared team.”