Staff photo by Steve Muscatello Martin Luther College’s Jonathan Riebe (20) looks to the basket after getting past an Oak Hills Christian defender duirng the first half Friday at MLC in New Ulm.

NEW ULM — The Martin Luther College men’s basketball team earned its second win of the season, cruising past Oak Hills Christian College 81-58 on Friday in a nonconference game.

“We knew it was a winnable game,” MLC assistant coach Galen Holzhueter said. “We got the lead and we kept it.”

The MLC coaching staff viewed the win as a good preparation for the Knights conference play, which will take place next week.

The Knights led by as many as 21 points in the first half. They closed out the first half with a 15-10 run for a 42-19 halftime lead.

OHCC had chances to score, but it wasn’t able to get baskets when needed. The Wolfpack was 6-for-30 for 20 percent shooting. They only managed to make 2 of 16 3-point shots for 12.5 percent in the first half. The Wolfpack had 12 turnovers for the game to MLC’s 21.

MLC shot 17-of-35 for 48.6 percent in the first half, 5 of 13 for 38.5 percent from 3-point range and it was 3 for 4 for 75 percent from the free throw line.

The Knights continued to score in the second half, building their lead to by as much as 30 points.

Nate Lindloff hit a 3-point shot, Austin DeNoyer scored a 2-pointer, Ethan Eisenmann dropped in a 3-pointer, Gregory Heichelbech and Joey Behm added a 3-point hoop. Eisenmann, Joseph Hirsch and DeNoyer each added another basket for a 62-31 lead.

The Wolfpack and the Knights scored 39 points each in the second half. MLC scored enough to maintain momentum while OHCC never got any closer than within six points early in the first half.

OHCC outscored MLC 5-0 near the end of the game. Blake Dragt, Elijah White and Phillip Harris all scored points on free throws for the final points of the contest.

“We focused to contest every shot and disrupt their game,” Galen Holzhueter said. “We had a total of 43 rebounds.”

DeNoyer led MLC with 12 points and six rebounds. Lindloff added 10 points and Ian Paulsen had nine assists.

White and Harris led all scorers with 16 points each and Reggie Jackson had 10 points for OHCC.

MLC will open Upper Midwest Athletic Conference action when it hosts North Central on Wednesday.