Staff photo by Steve Muscatello Cedar Mountain/Comfrey’s Dylan Hillesheim (3) makes a pass while Minnesota Valley Lutheran defenders Jake Kettner (left) and Mason Cox look on during the first half Friday in Morgan. For more photos of this event go to cu.nujournal.com

MORGAN — While Cedar Mountain/Comfrey typically finishes strong, the first half sometimes gets the Cougars in trouble.

On Friday night, CM/C dug itself into an 11-point halftime deficit against Minnesota Valley Lutheran. The Cougars regrouped at halftime, but it was too late as MVL held on for a 67-63 Tomahawk Conference boys’ basketball win.

Jake Kettner once again was the difference maker for the Chargers. The junior finished with 29 points, 21 of those came in the first half. He hit a pair of free throws with 19 seconds left to make it 67-63 and the Cougars were unable to answer.

Lewis Pendleton was one of four players in double figures for the Cougars. He finished with 25 points.

“We usually start pretty slow, today we started slow again,­­ but the second half we picked it up, usually that’s how it goes for games,” Pendleton said.

Kettner and the Chargers were in cruise control for the first half, but they knew that the Cougars weren’t done at halftime.

“I think personally I had a lot of silly turnovers off my foot and stuff like that, but credit to them, they’re a tough team and they shot the ball really well in the second half,” Kettner said.

Up 65-63 late in the game, Kettner was fouled and sank two free throws to make it a two-possession game. Lucas Emineth missed a 3-pointer with 10 seconds left and the Chargers (7-3, 4-0) were able to escape with the road win to remain perfect in the conference.

“That was huge for us, especially coming off the Bethany [Lutheran College] tournament and placing fourth there, guys are a little bit disappointed but we came out and showed that we wanted this win,” Kettner said.

The first half was back-and-forth and CM/C trailed 29-27 with 6:25 left on a basket by Pendleton. That was the last basket they scored in the half as MVL closed with a 9-0 run to take the double-digit lead.

Jace Marotz hit a pair of free throws and MVL started the second half on a 5-0 run to extend the lead to 44-27. That’s when CM/C woke up.

“We made an adjustment on defense, we had our hands straight up and weren’t trying to foul, the shots started falling for us too,” Pendleton said.

The Cougars trimmed the deficit to single digits and eventually trailed 48-45 with 10:44 left. While the Chargers maintained the lead and eventually stretched it to 10 points (61-51), the Cougars again fought back and were down 63-59 after Pendleton hit a pair of free throws with 2:40 left in the game.

Although it was a tough loss, Pendleton wasn’t too worried and knows there’s plenty of room for improvement.

“It’s frustrating right now, but I think we’ll be fine,” Pendleton said. “When we play next time, it’s going to be a lot better.”

For the Cougars, Emineth scored 14 points and Eli Samuelson scored 11 points. Dylan Hillesheim finished with 10 points.

Aside from Kettner, Matthew Munsen scored 15 and Marotz scored 10 for the Chargers.

The Cougars (6-3, 1-2) host Buffalo Lake-Hector Stewart on Tuesday and travel to New Ulm Cathedral on Friday.

MVL is at New Ulm Cathedral on Monday.