Staff photo by Jeremy Behnke New Ulm’s Zander Fischer dunks the ball during the first half of Friday’s game against St. James at New Ulm High School.

NEW ULM — For the second straight night, Colton Benson was nearly unstoppable for the New Ulm boys’ basketball game.

And for the second straight night, the Eagles ran away with a Big South Conference victory, this time with an 84-59 win over St. James.

Benson was hitting from all over, finishing the game with 28 on Friday, one night after scoring 32. Charlie Osborne and Zander Fischer each had 13 points while James Osborne scored 12 points for the Eagles, now 16-4 overall and 9-0 in Big South Conference East Division play.

St. James was led by senior Hayden Jones, who finished with 24 points. Hunter Stevens finished with 11 points for the Saints, now 9-13 overall and 3-6 in Big South Conference action.

The Eagles began to pull away about midway through the first half. Up 16-14, they went on a 10-2 run highlighted by a pair of baskets from James Osborne and another basket from Charlie Osborne during that run.

Stevens hit a 3 for the Saints with 5:45 left in the first half to make it 26-19, but Benson started to get hot and scored 5 straight points at the end of the half to put New Ulm up 31-19.

Zander Fischer’s dunk made it 33-19, but the Saints finished the half strong, going on a 12-2 run and New Ulm led 35-31 at the break.

The Eagles started the second half with a 9-2 run to go up 44-33 and later a 3 from Benson made it 52-36. Benson later hit a 3 to give the Eagles a 60-43 cushion and they ran away at the end of the contest.

New Ulm returns to Big South Conference play on Tuesday when it travels to St. Peter.