Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Ben Halvorson dribbles the ball away from Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart’s Niko Garcia (1) during a Tomahawk Conference boys basketball game Friday evening at MVL High School.

NEW ULM — Sometimes a team just needs to take what their opponent gives them.

Minnesota Valley Lutheran did that on Friday evening in a Tomahawk Conference boys basketball game with Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart, lighting up the scoreboard at MVL High School with a record amount of 3s on the way to an 87-36 win.

MVL made 18 3-pointers against BLHS, a new school record for 3s made in a single game. The previous record was set last season when the Chargers hit 12 in a game.

“There was no plan to shoot all those 3-pointers,” MVL head coach Craig Morgan said. “Just what BLHS gave us on their defense, our guys shot and took advantage of it and we were just hotter than I’d ever seen them play.”

The Chargers ended up making 18 of 38 from beyond the arc, while the Mustangs were 0 of 10. When the 3s weren’t dropping in, there was a good chance someone was crashing the boards for a putback as the Chargers ended with 26 second-chance points and 23 offensive rebounds.

The Chargers outrebounded the Mustangs 41-20.

MVL was led by Kyler Flunker’s 19 points and five 3s. Cole Thompson added 15 points and three steals for the Chargers, while Ben Halvorson and Maverick Johnson each had 9 points. Aaron Black and Ty Sexton added 8 points apiece, while Ben Pearson have 5 points, five rebounds and three steals.

The Mustangs were led by Connor McColley’s 10 points. The Mustangs were also playing without junior Chase Hubin, another one of the team’s leaders this year.

The Chargers opened things up with a 9-0 lead, getting a 3 from Flunker on the first shot of the game and a putback by Flunker to end the run. BLHS got on the board with a jumper from McColley, who scored his team’s first 8 points of the game.

MVL went on an 11-0 run later in the half, getting a pair of 3s from Halvorson, a 3 from Sebastian Smith and a fast-break finish in the paint from Johnson during the run.

A bucket inside from Malachi Kohls late in the half gave MVL a 63-16 lead at the half.

BLHS got the first bucket of the second half on a basket in the paint from Alex Taylor, but a 3 from Thompson quickly wiped those points away.

It was starting to look like MVL had a good chance to hit the century mark in scoring. That was last done by an MVL boys team on Jan. 29, 2018, when the Chargers beat St. Peter 103-84 on the road.

With most of the second half in running time, Morgan took the opportunity to send several different rotations to the floor. The Chargers ended up getting 16 players in the game.

“It’s good for them, it’s good for them to get out there and play,” Morgan said of his bench. “We didn’t want to beat them that bad, but we were hot — and we weren’t fast-breaking anymore. They were missing Hubin, and that was a big miss for them. And the other good thing for us was we were hitting the 3s, we got guys in a rhythm. We aren’t going to be able to live out there, we’re going to have to play defense and attack the basket, but tonight it worked.”

It was also Chargers Vs. Cancer Night, with contests and fundraising events taking place during the evening to help in the fight against cancer.

MVL (13-3, 9-1) will trek to Springfield for another conference game on Tuesday night, while BLHS (4-12, 3-6) hosts New Ulm Cathedral for a 6 p.m. conference game Tuesday in Hector.