Staff photo by Steve Muscatello Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Jake Kettner goes up for a shot during the first half the the Chargers’ game against West Lutheran Friday at MLC in New Ulm. For more photos of this event go to cu.nujournal.com

NEW ULM — Jake Kettner had a double-double for Minnesota Valley Lutheran on Friday night and helped the Chargers go on to defeat West Lutheran 69-47 in the MLC Tip-Off tournament.

Kettner had 23 points, 15 rebounds, eight assists and three steals for MVL. Also for the Chargers, Jace Marotz netted 17 points and added five rebounds, while Jacob Kiecker added 8 points, three rebounds and three steals.

MVL started off slow moving the ball, but picked things up midway through the first half.

“First nine minutes we just had no rhythm and you could tell we hadn’t played in a week,” MVL coach Craig Morgan said. “We threw the ball away a few times and hurried shots, but once we got back into a little bit of a rhythm, then our offense was much better. We shared the ball, we did something for somebody else, we looked better.”

Tied up early on at 8-8, the Chargers benefited on a 3 each by Kettner and Marotz to lead 14-8. MVL looked stronger near the end of the first half, going on a 10-0 run to lead 26-14 and force a Warriors’ timeout.

During the run, Marotz and Kiecker each put in two baskets. MVL led 35-20 at the half.

After back-to-back West Lutheran buckets began the second half, Kettner sank a 3-pointer to make the score 38-24. With less than 10 minutes left in the game, an and-one conversion by Kettner pushed the Chargers lead to 55-33.

A Mason Cox and-one conversion made the the score 67-45 with minutes to go, and the MVL defense remained solid on its way to victory.

The Chargers shot 43.8 percent on the night and limited the Warriors to just 27.6 percent. MVL also had 12 steals.

“It was an overall team thing,” Morgan said. “We had to work together, and we had to make sure that we stopped the dribble penetration. And that helped out a little bit there, too. We just gotta keep getting better each day.”

MVL plays at 6:30 p.m. Saturday in the Black Division championship game.