Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Springfield’s Noah Vogel puts up a shot while guarded by Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Cole Thompson on Monday night at MVL High School. Also pictured are Springfield’s James Coffland (24) and MVL’s Landen Merseth (23).

NEW ULM — The Minnesota Valley Lutheran boys’ basketball team didn’t go down without a fight against Springfield on Monday night, but too many missed shots plagued the Chargers in the end as the Tigers pulled away with a 63-55 win in Tomahawk Conference action.

The Chargers shot 33% from the floor, while the Tigers shot 39%. MVL did dominate on the boards by outrebounding the Tigers 44-35, but many of those rebounds didn’t lead to points.

Neither team shot well from beyond the arc, with the Tigers hitting 22% from 3 and the Chargers hitting 15%, but Springfield’s ability to control the ball in the second half to keep enough distance was enough to hang on for the win.

“Controlling the ball and just handling the physicality [was key],” Springfield head coach Lance Larson said. “We’re constantly on these guys that they’ve got to be a little tougher, a little stronger with the ball. I still don’t think we did a very good job with blocking out and rebounding, but that’s a day-by-day thing with us. I was proud that they battled, they fought, we had some foul trouble. I told them, ‘You come here, you can expect a physical game.’ A kid [Benjamin Potter] got a shiner and a bloody nose, all that good stuff. That’s part of it. You’ve got to enjoy that and you’ve got to know that for the playoff time, you’re going to see a lot of that. Hopefully that helps us grow a little.”

The Tigers were led by Carter Hillesheim’s 18 points and five rebounds, while Brendon Buerkle had 14 points and five rebounds and Noah Vogel added 12 points. Brayden Sturm added eight rebounds and five steals for the Tigers.

MVL was led by Cole Thompson’s 17 points and seven rebounds, while Garrett Parker had 8 points and 11 rebounds and Kyler Flunker added 6 points and seven rebounds. Ben Pearson and Will Kaesserman also had 6 points apiece for MVL.

Neither team was able to hit back-to-back buckets until Hillesheim scored on a pair of layups with less than 14 minutes to go in the half to give the Tigers an 8-4 lead. A 3 by Vogel pushed the Tigers to an 11-4 lead before Thompson hit a 15-foot jumper to stop the Springfield run.

The Chargers cut their deficit to 17-16 after a fast-break layup by Thompson, but the Tigers got 3s from Sturm and Buerkle and a layup by James Coffland to go up 25-16.

The Tigers increased their first-half lead to 10 before MVL closed the half on a 6-0 run, getting a Thompson-to-Bradyn Kube fast-break layup to end the run and have MVL down 28-24 at halftime.

A second-half 3 by Vogel gave the Tigers their largest lead of the night, 48-35, but MVL made another late push to cut its deficit to 54-48 after a 3 by Thompson and a free throw by Benjamin Halvorson. Both teams traded points late, but the Tigers hit 3 of 4 shots from the foul line in the final two minutes to keep their lead large enough and hold on for the win.

While there were things his team could have done better on Monday night, MVL head coach Craig Morgan said that he was proud that his players never quit, which is what he expects from them every game.

“That’s kind of been the MO, this group doesn’t quit,” MVL head coach Craig Morgan said. “They’re gritty, they work hard and they’re never going to quit. They just keep plugging away at whatever lead they have. Hopefully we can keep those leads later on and get a lead and keep the lead, but the group’s working hard and they’re improving, so that’s all I can ask from them.”

Springfield (15-3, 10-3) hosts Cedar Mountain on Friday, while MVL (4-13, 4-9) hosts New Ulm Cathedral on Friday.