ST. PETER — Basketball is a game of runs.

Saturday morning in the Big South Conference Showcase, the New Ulm Eagles boys’ basketball team used an 18-0 run in the first half to build a 25-12 lead and went on to defeat Luverne 62-48 at St. Peter High School.

Connor Foley paced the Eagles (2-1, 2-2) with 20 points. Braden Zimmerman added 15 points.

Derek Lundgren led the Cardinals (0-3) with 16 points.

For Eagles’ coach Steve Foley, the win was a nice way to rebound from a 78-68 Big South Conference loss to St. Peter less than 15 hours earlier.

“I told the kids this was a nice win — we gutted it out,” said Foley. “We had a heck of a game with St. Peter the previous night, and we used a lot of energy. The kids busted their tails off and I was hoping that it would not translate into too much of a letdown today — I thought that today we looked a little lethargic offensively and defensively.”

But when the Eagles, who host St. James on Friday in a Big South Conference meeting, did play well, they really played well.

New Ulm trailed 12-7 after the Cardinals’ Bill Haugon banked home a bucket.

But Haugon’s basket would be the last points Luverne would get until Mark Robinson sank a free throw.

By then, the Eagles had ran off 18 unanswered points to climb to a comfortable 13-point cushion.

Caden Hames’ free throw ignited the run with Matt Janke, Noah Hauge, Zimmerman, Dylan Lund and Reece Melby all collecting baskets before a Foley basket forced Luverne to call a timeout.

“When we got into that run, everybody touched the ball down the court.” Foley said. “We trusted the offense — we moved the ball and reversed the ball. We made good passes and got some assists.”

In that run, the Eagles forced eight Cardinals’ turnovers and pressured Luverne into making only four of their 16 shots.

But the Cardinals came back with a 10-0 run of their own to cut the lead to 25-22 at halftime.

“For whatever reason, we went into a five minute stretch where we had one pass and then a shot,” Foley said. “Or go to the hoop all by myself with no rebounding or ball movement. You can defend that.”

New Ulm regained some momentum with an 8-0 run to begin the second half and built their lead to as much as 43-33 coming on two Foley free throws followed by a jumper with eight minutes to go in the game.

Luverne tried to get back in as they climbed to within 43-38. Baskets from Janke and two free throws from Zimmerman gave New Ulm a nine point lead with three minutes to go in the game.

‘We are still young and this is a growing process,” said Foley.”The kids were tired but we played nine kids and they all contributed.”