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New Ulm High School's Colton Benson's 40-point performance in a 96-61 win over Mankato Loyola in the third-place game of the Kwik Trip Holiday Tournament was a single-game boys basketball school record.
Meleah Reinhart holds the NUHS girls and school single-game scoring record with 44 points.
Now 6-1 after a win over St. Clair and a loss to Lake Crystal in the tournament, New Ulm coach Matt Dennis said that it was a tournament that saw teams shake off rust in their first game.
"We survived against a scrappy St. Clair team," he said. "We were gritty and came from behind -- we were down 5 points in the second half for a 64-56 win."
New Ulm then dropped their first game of the season, 63-61 on a last-second shot before putting up 96 points (40 from Benson) in a 96-61 win.
"Jimmy Osborne had an outstanding game against Lake Crystal," Dennis said. "Not only did he have 19 points in that game, but he had two huge dunks -- one coming at the end of the game to tie it. But he also locked down one of Lake Crystal's best players. He had almost 1,000 points in his career, but Jimmy held him to 4 points in the game. [Jimmy] took a huge stride this weekend."
In the win over Loyola, not only did Benson score 40, but Osborne had 20 points, with three other players -- Nate Firle, Collin Horning and Easton Clark each adding 9 points.
"We were missing that balanced scoring against Lake Crystal -- getting points from other players -- we need to have people put the ball in the basket," Dennis said. "It was a fun game because of the way we worked together -- we are an unselfish team."
Right now, Benson, a junior, is at 840 career points.
"I would give our team an overall grade of 'A' for the tournament," Dennis said.
EAGLES GIRLS WIN TWICE IN WINONA TOURNAMENT: The New Ulm Eagles girls basketball team improved to 6-2 on the season with wins over Winona (75-61) and Chatfield (67-43) in the Winona Tournament.
"Daviney Dreckman had a fabulous weekend," New Ulm head coach Julie Rogers said about the junior. "She had games of 31 points and 22 points with 13 and six rebounds. On Saturday, Maddie Backer had the best game of her season. She had four assists and five steals -- her defense was just really great."
Rogers said that Bryn Nesvold also a had a great weekend. "She had eight assists against Winona -- she really found the open girl going to the basket -- and we saw more pressure than we have seen. Bryn gets the ball it the middle of that pressure and makes a good pass."
Rogers said that Morgan Hulke had a good weekend with games of 8 and 12 points.
"Her coming off of the bench and putting up those points makes a difference for us.
"I am pleased with our overall performance -- Ramsey Hopp is playing defense against players who are a lot bigger than her and she is holding her own against them -- she gets key rebounds for us and she keeps the other team from getting rebounds. She is one of those contributors who does not get recognized enough but she is banging bodies underneath with kids who are bigger than her."
Rogers also praised the play of Kenzie Enter, who is always assigned the chore of guarding the other teams best player.
"Her and Maddie (Backer) make it challenging for the other teams guards to run their offense. Kenzie's contribution is so vital to our success. I am really pleased with the way they played this weekend.
Rogers was also happy with her team's overall defense.
"I was really pleased with our defense -- we played on the Winona State court, which is 10 feet longer than a high school court," she said. "And they played hard full-court man defense all game in back-to-back games -- was pretty impressive. We had great communication on defensive switches."
EAGLES BOYS HOCKEY IN FERGUS FALLS: The New Ulm Eagles boys hockey team went 1-1-1 in the Fergus Falls Tournament, tying host Fergus Falls 3-3, losing to a good 6-1 Detroit Lakes team 3-2 and then beating Fort Francis, Canada, 4-2.
"Our boys played very well up there," New Ulm head coach Ryan Neuman said as his team went to 8-1-1 on the season "We got to see some good hockey -- both Detroit Lakes and Fergus Falls are ranked in the top 15 in the state right now," Neuman said. "We tied Fergus Falls the first night and they went on to beat Detroit Lakes in the championship game 5-1. This just goes to show how good we can be if we show up and play good hockey."
In the 3-3 tie against the Otters, all of the scoring in the game by both teams came in the first period. And all of Fergus Falls' scores came on the power play.
"Our penalty kill was not good, but we also scored a short-handed and a power-play goal," Neuman said. "So it was a game that came down to the special teams."
Neuman said that the Eagles' special teams scored two short-handed and two power-play goals against Fort Francis.
And in those three games, New Ulm goalie Bryer Hoffmann was outstanding, stopping 74 of 82 shots.
And before the Eagles played in the Fergus Falls Tournament, they beat a good (5-3) Hutchinson team 2-1.
Barring weather, the Eagles host Redwood Valley Tuesday before a road game at Marshall on Thursday. They then host Minnesota River Saturday at 4 p.m. in Hockey Day New Ulm.