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Chargers down Cougars

Staff photo by Steve Muscatello Cedar Mountain’s Devonte Charles gets past Kyreis Harrison (right) of Minnesota Valley Lutheran and makes a layup during the first half Tuesday at MVL.

NEW ULM — Cold shooting by Cedar Mountain in the second half and a more intense defense by Minnesota Valley Lutheran led to a 74-48 MVL win Tuesday night in a Tomahawk Conference game.

Dunwa Omot paced the Chargers (12-1, 6-1) with a game-high 22 points. Jace Marotz added 17, Mason Cox had 12 and Kyreis Harrison added 10. Omot and Cox each hauled down 12 rebounds, while Omot ended his game resume with four assists.

Sophomore Caden Kleinschmidt led the Cougars (6-6, 3-4) with 17 points and 14 rebounds.

“It took us a while to get going,” Chargers head coach Craig Morgan said. “We were not in sync too well, but we came around in the middle of the second half.”

While the Chargers, who play at Wabasso on Thursday, came around after a slow first half, that was not the case for the Cougars, who suffered through poor shooting all game.

They held a 23-21 lead at the 6:16 mark of the first half on a free throw from Chris Dow.

But MVL outscored the Cougars 14-4 to close out the first 18 minutes for a 35-27 halftime lead.

It was a half where Cedar Mountain stayed in the game despite hitting only 2 of 13 shots from beyond the arc.

The Cougars made just 2 of 12 shots from beyond the arc in the second half and ended the game making 4 of 25 3s (16%) for the game.

They also were cold from the field as they made only 18 of 59 shots from the floor for 30%.

The Chargers had a better shooting night, especially in the second half as they made 6 of 13 3-pointers in the second half after making only 1 of 6 in the first half — that one came on the first points of the game on an Omot 3.

Two 3s from Omot (4 of 8 from beyond the arc in the game) moved MVL to a 44-35 lead.

A Kyreis Harrison basket saw the Chargers up 50-39 before MVL used four 3-pointers for a commanding 64-45 lead.

“Leyton Brau came off of the bench and hit two 3s. We had a little run going there,” Morgan said.

An Omot drive to the basket made it a 70-45 game before Devonte Charles made the second 3 of the second half for the Cougars.

“We are a resilient team and we just had to be patient in the second half,” Morgan said. “We amped up our defense in the second half. I hope that their cold shooting was because of our defense getting up there and playing tougher.”

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