Staff photo by Travis RosenauMinnesota Valley Lutheran’s Aaron Black (35) pulls in a rebound in front of Sleepy Eye’s Landon Wendinger (20) during a Tomahawk Conference boys basketball game Tuesday night at MVL High School in New Ulm.
NEW ULM — After starting to figure out their shot again, the Minnesota Valley Lutheran Chargers got some extra help from their defense on Tuesday night.
Behind a solid night of shooting and a strong defensive effort, the Chargers turned a halftime tie into a 71-54 win over Sleepy Eye in a Tomahawk Conference boys basketball game.
The Indians edged the Chargers in field goal percentage 43-42%, but the Chargers forced 18 turnovers and committed 12 while outrebounding the Indians 40-23.
Ben Pearson led the way for MVL with 19 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, while Kyler Flunker had 18 points, seven rebounds, and five assists and Maverick Johnson had 12 points.
“I think our defense picked up a little bit in that second half,” MVL head coach Craig Morgan said. “And they [Sleepy Eye] were starting to get a little tired, too. They had a game the night before [against Mountain Lake] and that was a close one. But we played pretty well. We had some miscues, but when you run you sometimes have those. So we’ll just work on that [Wednesday] in practice and then we’ve got a tough Cedar Mountain team that can shoot the lights out [Thursday].”
MVL will need a win Thursday at home against Cedar Mountain if it wants to end the season with at least a share of the conference title. MVL, now on five-game win streak, moved to 18-5 overall and 12-3 in the conference with the win.
Sleepy Eye was led by Brayden Heiderscheidt’s 17 points, four assists, three rebounds and three steals, while Marcus Martinez had 15 points and five rebounds and Landon Wendinger had 11 points, 10 rebounds and eight blocks.
Sleepy Eye dropped to 14-8 overall and 9-6 in the conference with its fourth consecutive loss this season. The Indians have lost to Cedar Mountain, Springfield, Mountain Lake Area/Comfrey and now MVL during that four-game skid, but all of those teams have also put together strong seasons.
Cedar Mountain moved to 14-8 overall also after a nonconference win on Tuesday over Immanuel Lutheran, while Springfield is tied for first in the conference with MVL. MLA/Comfrey is 20-2 on the year.
“We didn’t rotate very well and some kids knocked down some 3s [over us], and we’re a little tired from playing a lot of games [recently],” Sleepy Eye head coach Shane Heiderscheidt said. “We’ve had a brutal stretch of games here, and we knew were going to split with a lot of teams, it’s just how our conference is. [MVL] got us at home, we got them at home.
“The kids battled hard, and we went Friday, Monday and Tuesday now against three really good teams. But now we get a couple days off, get some rest.”
Sleepy Eye travels to Hector to take on Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart in its final conference game of the year before three nonconference games next week end the regular season.
And a post move inside by Wendinger started the Indians with a 2-0 lead, Flunker sank a 3 to put the Chargers in front. Brayden Heiderscheidt answered with a jumper to put Sleepy Eye up 4-3, but that lead was quickly taken away on a mid-range bucket and a steal for a layup, both by Will Kaesermann.
The Indians didn’t regain the lead until late in the half when Wendinger got an and-one and Martinez hit a 3 to give the Indians a 24-23 advantage. A few possessions later, Johnson hit a 3 to put MVL ahead 26-24 before Brayden Heiderscheidt tied it at 26-all heading into the half with a turnaround basket in the paint.
The start to the second half was fast and furious, with Wendinger opening the scoring with a post move inside before Pearson canned a corner 3 to put MVL up 29-28. Kaesermann then stole an inbounds lob and got the ball to Johnson for a fast-break layup before a corner 3 by Martinez tied the game again, this time at 32-all.
Brayden Heiderscheidt got a steal for a layup and a 33-31 Indians lead before MVL tied it and then took a 36-33 lead on a Pearson 3. Sleepy Eye took one last lead, 42-41, after a bucket inside by Brayden Heiderscheidt before Flunker hit a 3 and Black scored on a putback bucket to put MVL up 46-42.
That 3 and putback bucket was part of a 15-3 run that gave the Chargers a 56-45 lead, the first double-digit lead by either team.
A corner 3 dagger by Flunker gave MVL its largest lead of the game, 66-49, with less than three minutes to play.
While the 6-foot-8 Wendinger was trouble for MVL on both ends of the floor, especially in the first half, MVL’s 6-foot-5 center Aaron Black matched up well with Wendinger and got his share of putbacks to drop, finishing with 12 points and eight rebounds.
“Aaron didn’t back down,” Morgan said. “He turned around, he took it to [Wendinger] and I’m proud of him that way. He even got some rebounds, so he did a nice job.”
Ahead of an important conference finale for the Chargers this Thursday, Morgan said he expects Cedar Mountain to shoot better this time around and his squad will have to be ready for it.
The Chargers defeated the Cougars 87-78 at Cedar Mountain High School on Jan. 16.
Today's breaking news and more in your inbox
