It was his fourth foul. He was headed to the bench, and his team’s hopes of pulling an upset went with him.

The Lynx spark plug at both ends of the floor was forced to watch more than five minutes of the third period and Clear Lake took advantage. The Lions outscored WCHS 17-2 in the frame, and their second-half surge reached 28-4 by the 5:10 mark of the fourth in their 64-40 win over the Lynx.

WCHS led by three at the half. It lost by 24.

Just a disastrous second half. And it was no coincidence it happened when McKinney found himself in foul trouble.

WCHS reserve Jaime Grossoehme (31) whips a pass across the court before stepping out of bounds on a drive on Friday in Clear Lake. DFJ photo/Troy Banning

“Ty played his guts out and he did a lot of things that kept our offense moving,” Marty McKinney, the Lynx head coach said of his son’s performance that included 16 points and four rebounds. “I thought he could have gotten a charge called on one of (the fouls), but then he got one that he can’t (for his fourth). A lot of it is effort and I”m not going to fault effort, but some of it is youth. We need him on the floor.”

WCHS (2-3, 1-3 NCC) was lost offensively without McKinney’s creativity. All-conference guard Tavis Eklund continued to be sidelined with an ankle injury and Clear Lake turned most of its attention to fellow al-conference guard Tyler Olson, who managed to score eight points while being hounded. Trey Lyons popped off for eight first-half points, but was held scoreless after the break — a 16-minute stretch in which the Lions outscored WCHS 43-16.

“We’ve got to be more balanced offensively,” Marty McKinney said. “Trey hit some shots early and that was huge, but we need more guys to score so teams can’t just focus on (Ty McKinney and Olson).”

Clear Lake (8-1, 4-1 NCC) found its shooting stroke after the intermission as well. After missing all seven of third 3-point attempts in the first half, the Lions buried 5 of 7 in the second half. Carson Toebe’s first of two triples put his team in front to stay, 26-24, just 1:05 into the third.

WCHS sagged in a zone defense in an attempt to shut off the inside scoring opportunities for standout forward Andrew Formanek, and it worked for a half. But Clear Lake’s shooters exploited it over the final half.

DFJ photo/Troy Banning

Marty McKinney said it didn’t help that the Lions owned a 30-19 edge on the glass. Clear Lake collected 10 offensive rebounds and scored on the majority of them.

“Defensively we played the way we wanted,” he said. “But they got too many attempts. For us to be successful moving forward against anybody, we’ve got to rebound better.”

WCHS also turned the ball over 18 times.

Toebe poured in 16 points and Formanek still got his with 15 for the Lions. Eric Ritter and Travaughn Luyobya added 11 and 10 more, respectively.

The Lynx will return to non-conference play on Tuesday against Southeast Valley in Burnside.

DFJ photo/Troy Banning

Clear Lake 64, Webster City 40

Friday at Clear Lake

Webster City (2-3, 1-3 NCC) — Tyler Olson 4 0-0 8, Jayce Neuroth 0 0-0 0, Devon Stoakes 0 0-0 0, Ty McKinney 6 1-3 16, Trey Lyons 3 0-0 8, Isaac Haule 0 0-0 0, Sam Halbach 0 0-0 0, Briar Klaver 0 0-0 0, Jaime Grossoehme 1 1-1 3, Jamin Stuhr 2 0-0 4, Beau Klaver 0 1-2 1, Cody Kolbeck 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 3-7 40.

Clear Lake (8-1, 4-1 NCC) — Carson Toebe 6 2-3 16, Joe Faber 2 0-0 5, Jagger Schmitt 1 0-0 3, Andrew Formanek 6 2-3 15, Travaughn Luyobya 3 3-4 10, Noah Petersen 0 0-0 0, PJ Feuerbach 0 0-0 0, Jeff Neuberger 0 2-2 2, Eric Ritter 5 1-1 11, Tucker Jones 1 0-0 2. Totals: 24 10-13 64.

Web City 17 7 2 14 — 40

DFJ photo/Troy Banning

Clear Lake 11 10 17 26 — 64

3-point field goals — WC 5 (McKinney 3, Lyons 2); CL 6 (Toebe 2, Faber, Formanek, Schmitt, Luyobya). Rebounds — WC 19 (McKinney 4). Steals — WC 9 (Olson 5). Assists — WC 9 (Stoakes 4). Turnovers — WC 18. Team fouls — WC 14, CL 17.