MVL outlasts Cathedral despite tough shooting night
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NEW ULM -- Thursday night at Cathedral High School, the Minnesota Valley Lutheran Chargers made just 6 of 31 shots from beyond the arc.
But two of them came on back-to-back 3s from Ben Halvorson with just under two minutes to go in the game and sparked the Chargers to a 70-61 win over the New Ulm Cathedral Greyhounds in a Tomahawk Conference boys basketball game.
Aaron Black paced the Chargers (2-0, 1-0) with 17 points. Will Kaesermann added 13.
Jevan Wilfahrt led the Greyhounds (1-2, 0-2) with a game-high 30 points.
"We did not shoot the ball well," MVL head coach Craig Morgan said. "Ben [Pearson] was off, but we hit some keys shots down the stretch with the guys that were in there -- different guys stepped up for us."
Cathedral had cut the MVL lead to 60-56 on a 3 from Wilfahrt, followed by one of two free throws from the senior guard.
But that was when Halvorson grabbed the controls and hit nothing but net on consecutive 3s giving the Chargers a 66-56 lead with just under two minutes left in the game.
"He can do that -- he is good enough. He just needs confidence on that," Morgan said.
Cathedral head coach Alan Woitas credited MVL and said he was proud of how his team played against the Chargers.
"MVL is a phenomenal team," Woitas said. "They are deep, they are athletic, they are long and they can challenge you in a lot of different ways. I am proud of our guys matching that intensity. We were down Isaac Miller tonight, so some different guys stepped up and played their first varsity minutes tonight."
It was a game where the Greyhounds held their last lead of the game at 12-10 on a Zach Gieseke basket.
MVL would grab a 31-19 lead late in the first haft only to see Cathedral cut the lead to 33-32 on 3s from Jake Finstad and Wilfahrt with a minute to go in the first half.
The Chargers also held a 57-43 lead off of two Kaesermann throws and a Black basket with 10 minutes to go in the game before the Greyhounds cut the lead to 57-48 and then 59-52 on a Finstad basket.
"We could not quite get over the hump [in the comeback]," Woitas said. "It was the same in the [Sleepy Eye] St. Mary's game -- they went on a run and we would respond. We could not get back over the top but it is only game three."
It might not have been a pretty win for MVL, but it was a win.
"We will take the win," Morgan said. "This is a tough place to play in."