Cheyenne Mountain players will be the first to tell you their first-round playoff victory wasn’t their best performance.

But the Indians came up big defensively when they needed to and the offense took care of the rest as No. 5 Cheyenne Mountain held off No. 12 Battle Mountain 15-12 in the Class 4A boys’ lacrosse state playoffs at Cheyenne Mountain on Wednesday.

“Anytime when you’re in the postseason and come out with a win it’s a good thing,” Indians coach Mike Paige said. “We could’ve played a little cleaner, but they played tough and did it when it counted.”

With the Indians (13-3) clinging to a two-goal lead before halftime, the Huskies (7-9) gained possession and called timeout with 1:21 left. Cheyenne Mountain knocked the ball loose from Battle Mountain three times and allowed only a weak shot on goal – stopped easily by goalie Luke Paige – preserving the 8-6 lead.

They did it again to end the third, this time holding off the Huskies for 49 seconds, again limiting them to one weak shot and keeping the Indians on top 11-8.

“Lacrosse is really a game of momentum,” defender Ryan Walden said. “In a game like that where it’s so back and forth, it’s so close, one play like that can really change the game.”

Meanwhile, the Indians’ offense didn’t miss much.

Jack Clancy made the first-half defensive stand count when he opened the second half with a wraparound goal 43 seconds in.

The Indians scored 15 goals on 28 shots, led by August Johnson’s five goals, the capper a behind-the-back goal that scored with 7.3 seconds left.

“That’s definitely how it goes in all games, sometimes the offense doesn’t perform, sometimes the defense doesn’t perform,” Johnson said. “In games like that you just have to adapt, you have to overcome. That’s what it really comes down to.”

Battle Mountain hung around throughout, falling behind by five goals just once, when Kai Case put the Indians up 11-6 midway through the third.

But the Huskies chipped away, closing the gap to 12-11 with 5:48 to play. Johnson answered with two goals and Clancy sandwiched one in between to put the game out of reach.

“We came out and kind of had our heads in the clouds,” Johnson said. “We weren’t thinking about being in the moment and doing the small things right. … I think we always start off slow but we always progress and get better as the game goes on.”

The Indians reached the semifinals last season. They’ll have to go through No. 4 Windsor on Friday night to get back to the semifinals.

This year’s squad has been in plenty of tight games, and that could help come Friday. Winning the way the Indians did served as a reminder of what it takes to advance in the postseason.

“You just make adjustments,” Walden said. “You figure out ways to win, and that’s really what we did tonight. We just figured it out.”