Staff photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm’s Colton Benson puts up a shot over Waseca’s Isaac Potter during the first half of the Eagles’ Big South Conference boys’ basketball game on Thursday at New Ulm High School.

NEW ULM — Waseca didn’t make things easy for New Ulm on Thursday night, but the Eagles were still able to finish the night as Big South Conference, East Division champions.

With a 61-49 Big South Conference boys’ basketball win over the Bluejays at New Ulm High School, the Eagles clinched the East Division title.

While New Ulm (15-4, 8-0) looked like it was about to run away with the game midway through the first half after taking a 26-14 lead, Waseca (7-15, 3-5) started to improve its defense and started hitting shots, finishing the half by trailing 31-28.

New Ulm struggled to hit shots late in the first half and throughout the second half, but sophomore forward Colton Benson was one New Ulm player that was too hot for Waseca to stop as he finished the night with 32 points.

“A big issue was confidence,” Benson said of Waseca’s ability to keep things close. “We lost confidence because shots weren’t falling for the rest of the team, and when we all knock down shots, confidence goes way up. I kept my confidence up and kept shooting.”

The Eagles also got 11 points from Charlie Osborne and 6 points from Zander Fischer.

Waseca was led by Elijah Breck’s 13 points, while Damarius Russell had 10 points.

Trailing 11-7, New Ulm got an 11-1 run to lead 18-12. During the run, Benson canned a pair of 3s, while James Osborne had a putback bucket and Dominick Kamrath sank a corner 3.

Moments later, New Ulm got an 8-0 run to surge ahead to a 26-14 lead and force a Waseca timeout with 6:26 left in the half. While the Eagles struggled to convert on offense out of the timeout, the Bluejays closed the half on a 14-5 run to trail 31-28 at halftime.

Russell buried a corner 3 to tie the game right away in the second half before Breck scored inside to give the Bluejays their first lead, 33-31, since leading 11-10. Benson gave the Eagles the lead back moments later on a 3 before the Bluejays got a 7-0 run to lead 41-36.

Benson again answered with a 3, a pair of free throws and another 3 to put the Eagles in front 44-41. New Ulm’s lead didn’t last long as Shaun Hulscher hit a 3 of his own to tie things up at 44-all.

Garrett Foley then scored on a bucket in the paint to give New Ulm a 46-44 lead it wouldn’t relinquish. The Bluejays cut their deficit to 1 after that, but Fischer’s two-handed slam dunk in the closing minutes gave the Eagles a 56-49 lead and enough energy to close things out.

New Ulm hosts St. James Area for a Big South Conference, East Division game on Friday night.