NEW ULM — Already without one of their top scorers, things looked bad for the New Ulm boys’ basketball team when Connor Foley went down with an ankle injury early in the second half against Jordan.

But Foley, who rolled his ankle two weeks ago, returned and finished the game for New Ulm, but New Ulm was unable to hang with Jordan in a 68-55 nonconference loss on Tuesday.

Matt Janke led the Eagles with 18 points and Braden Zimmerman had 16 points. Foley finished the game with 14 points as New Ulm saw its record slip to 9-10 on the season.

The Eagles were without Reece Melby and Foley said that changed the game plan.

“I don’t think we were out of sync, we were more one-dimensional,” Foley said. “Reece helps us pull it out so we can shoot the 3-ball more. That’s kind of what killed us because I think their coach knew that Reece was gone and that he can shoot.”

The Hubment entered Tuesday’s contest with a 13-4 record on the season. They showed that they have a couple of scoring options and they were able to use those options to pull away late in the game.

Sophomore guard Ryan Samuelson and senior post player Eric Tiedman each scored 20 points for Jordan.

The Eagles trailed by 8 points at halftime and they hung tough most of the first half.

“They’re a great team but we can also be a great team,” Foley said. “That Tiedman, he’s up for Mr. Basketball, he’s a great player, it was fun having him guard me and me guarding him. He’s the best player I’ve played against.”

The Eagles kept it close in the second half, trailing 44-41 on a pair of Janke free throws with 10:51 left. However, the Hubmen always seemed to have an answer any time the Eagles got within striking distance.

Late turnovers by the Eagles led to some transition baskets by the Hubmen. However, while the loss may have been frustrating for the Eagles, they showed signs of being a tough team once the postseason rolls around.

“We could’ve won this game, we made mental mistakes and they’re a good team and they capitalized off of it,” Foley said. “We just gotta keep the intensity that we had when we came into this game. This is probably one of the best games that we’ve played all year and if we can keep doing this, I think that we can go far.”

New Ulm is at Waseca on Friday for a Big South Conference battle and then it will travel to Marshall next Tuesday.