File photo by Steve Muscatello New Ulm’s Reece Melby puts up a shot during a recent home game with Hutchinson at NUHS. Melby led the Eagles on Friday night with 36 points.

NEW ULM — The New Ulm High School boys’ basketball team scored a season-high 90 points as the Eagles ran by St. James 90-68 Friday night in a Big South Conference game.

Reece Melby led New Ulm (6-15, 2-7) with a game-high 36 points. Charlie Osborne added 17 points. Melby is now 14 points shy of tying Connor Foley’s boy’s career scoring record of 1,359 points at New Ulm High School.

Logan Carlson paced St. James (5-17, 0-9) with 22 points. Hayden Jones tossed in 14 points.

“This was a good team win,” New Ulm coach Matt Dennis said. “Before the game we talked and said that we have to have fun tonight. And at the end of the game, (scoring) 90 points was fun.”

And it was a fun game, especially if you are a fan of the three-point shot.

In the first half, both teams combined to attempt 34 3-point shots.

Three treys from Melby — who made seven 3s in the game — and a shot from beyond the arc from Isaiah Miller gave the Eagles a 14-10 lead.

St. James’ Logan Carlson’s back-to-back 3s cut the New Ulm lead to 17-16 before the Saints’ Sawyer Evans sank a 3 for a 24-23 lead.

Consecutive 3s from Derrick Halvorson and Daevon Anderson moved St. James to a 32-28 lead.

Melby and Evans exchanged 3-pointers before New Ulm went on a 7-0 run to close out the first half and a 38-35 New Ulm lead.

In the first half, St, James was 8 of 18 from beyond the arc, while the Eagles canned 7 of 16 long-range shots.

“We played good defense in the first half but credit their shooters,” Dennis said about the Saints. “We were in their face and they still knocked down 3s. And with the zone that they were playing, they were giving us the 3-point shot. We have some confident shooters.”

For the game, New Ulm was 12-for-20 from long range.

The Eagles, who play at St. Peter on Tuesday, started to take control of the game in the second half as they increased their lead to 60-47 thanks to two Osborne 3-pointers and a 3 from Cole Backer.

A Melby jumper with five minutes left in the game increased the New Ulm lead to 73-52.

“Reece is a special player,” Dennis said about the 6-foot-5 senior. “He plays with such spirit. He loves the game and he has fun. And Charlie Osborne has taken Reece’s lead and has seen that passion come through.

“This was a team victory tonight,” Dennis said.