Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Nick Bleick steals a pass from Springfield’s Ryan Vogel during a Tomahawk Conference boys’ basketball on Thursday at MVL High School.

NEW ULM — Creating turnovers for easy baskets has been a specialty for the Minnesota Valley Lutheran boys’ basketball team so far this season.

And it’s something the Chargers did well at again on Thursday night in Tomahawk Conference action as they cruised to a 74-46 win over Springfield at MVL High School.

Kyreis Harrison led the Chargers with 24 points. Luke Thompson added 11 points for MVL, while Leyton Brau and Christian Edwards chipped in 8 points apiece.

The Tigers were led by Mason Leonard and Brendan Buerkle, who each scored 11 points. Dylan Batzlaff added 7 points for Springfield.

The Chargers quickly bolted out to an 11-4 lead early on after a 9-0 run was capped off on a bucket inside by Thompson. Logan Richert stopped the run for the Tigers.

MVL got two quick buckets and the Tigers turned the ball over on an errant pass soon after, though, forcing a Springfield timeout with 11:41 to go in the half. MVL continued to build its lead out of the timeout, however, and went up 34-12 with less than five minutes left in the half after back-to-back jumpers by Harrison.

A corner 3 by Edwards and a pair of free throws by Dylan Birkholz had MVL up 41-15 late in the half before Leonard dropped in a bucket to lead to a 41-17 score at halftime. The Tigers continued to struggle controlling the ball early in the second half, but they regrouped enough to cut their deficit to 47-29 after a pair of free throws by Buerkle.

MVL took over after that, getting three consecutive buckets from Harrison, a bucket by Brau and a pair of free throws by Edwards to lead 61-31. A layup by Carter Sexton gave MVL its largest lead of the night, 68-37.

The Chargers (11-4, 11-3) host New Ulm Cathedral on Monday, while Springfield (7-7, 7-6) travels to take on Cedar Mountain on Monday.