West was the team that took out New Ulm in last year’s section tournament, and New Ulm was able to flip the script to advance to play at No. 1 Mankato East at 5 p.m. Saturday.

“Definitely we had a chip on our shoulder coming in,” New Ulm’s Owen Castleman said. “We thought it was big to get out to a fast start and punch them in the throat right away. They had to answer to us instead of us answering to them.”

New Ulm started with a 16-4 lead, with Castleman scoring 8 points for the Eagles off the bat.

“Just kind of getting aggressive,” Castleman said. “Getting into the middle of it, getting into the paint, and taking what’s mine, taking the easy points.”

Staff photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm’s Owen Castleman (0) and Mitchell Hopp (1) go to celebrate with their team after a win over Mankato West in a Section 2AAA Boys Basketball Tournament game at Mankato West High School on Tuesday.

West caught up in the second half, going up by as much as 50-43, but New Ulm outscored the Scarlets 18-6 to close the game.

“The fast start, obviously, that’s what we want to do,” New Ulm head coach Michael Poncelet said. “We want to come out and play fast, because when we play fast, we have a lot easier time scoring. I thought we started out playing fast, we jumped out to a lead. They were tough and fought back, but then I thought we played very disciplined and controlled down the stretch.

“We were getting to the rim, getting to the free-throw line, getting 3-pointers the hard way as opposed to when we got into a lull and they went on a run, they were chucking them up from outside with no offensive rebounding. I think that was really a key thing. Then it also allowed us to rest Mitchell [Hopp] and Levi [Hopp]. When we’re shooting free throws, they’re resting and don’t have to come out the whole second half, and that’s huge.”

Mitchell Hopp led the Eagles with 21 points, while Levi Hopp had 15 points. Castleman added 14 points for New Ulm.

After New Ulm’s 16-4 lead, West got a pair of layups from Evan Senske and Mal Janguan to get the offense going. However, New Ulm continued to score as well, with Mitchell Hopp going a layup in transition and a 3-pointer to maintain a 21-11 lead. A layup from Noah Mertz saw New Ulm hold a 23-13 advantage, but West found its offense, going on a 14-5 run to close out the half and cut the advantage to 28-27.

West tied the game at 34 on a 3-pointer from Ryan Steinke and took the lead on a layup from Senske to make it a 37-36 game. The Scarlets went on a 9-2 run to go up 46-40, but Joey Wise kept the Eagles in the game with a layup. Still, a pair of free throws by Ryan Hendrickson gave West its 50-43 lead.

Mitchell Hopp started off the comeback with a converted and-one to cut the lead down to 50-46.

“I just go back to discipline,” Poncelet said. “The guys went back to running their stuff. It was about execution as opposed to just free form, when we were just chucking them up, that was a lot more free form, and it wasn’t that effective.”

Castleman made a pair of free throws to make it a 52-48 game, then Wise split his free throws. However, the miss was tipped out to Levi Hopp, who canned a 3 to tie the game at 52. Senske broke the tie with a layup, but Wise took the lead back for New Ulm with an and-one, giving the Eagles a 55-54 lead. The teams swapped leads twice more with a layup from Senske and a pair of free throws from Levi Hopp as the clock ticked under a minute. A miss from West and a foul in the double bonus sent Mitchell Hopp to the line, who hit both of his free throws. Another defensive possession and more free throws from Levi Hopp later, and New Ulm completed its victory.

“Just getting back to playing our style of basketball,” Castleman said. “Getting to the rim, not forcing bad shots. Just getting back to what we do.”