New Ulm High School head boys basketball coach Matt Dennis called Saturday night’s 69-62 come-from-behind win over Mankato West in a Section 2AAA playoff game as a total team belief in the cause.

The Eagles trailed for almost the entire game and at one point were down 26-13 before they came back and took their first lead at 61-59 on a Nate Firle putback bucket. They then increased that to a 66-60 lead with 43 seconds left in the game.

“We did not shoot real well in that first half,” Dennis said as the Eagles were down 32-27 at halftime. “We believed that our shots would start to fall. Things were not that bleak even though we were down.”

It was also a first half that saw two players — Jimmy Osborne and Nate Firle — do the bulk of scoring for the Eagles with 13 and 10, respectively, of the 27 points.

“Jimmy was huge in that first half as was Nate,” Dennis said. “They did an amazing job as we only had three guys score in that first half. But we knew that we were going to get more points from more places.

“Down 5 at half, we felt we were in a pretty good spot. We reassured the kids that if we stuck with our defense things would turn around. And they did.”

Dennis said that his team goal was one possession at a time.

“We wanted to chip away and see what happens,” he said. “We had some huge plays down the stretch — Will Fossen had another dagger (with a 3 that tied the game at 59). We had Ayden Jensen stealing a layup — was as timely as that could have been — Zach Hubbard had a beautiful back-cut to finish a layup.

“We did not get much scoring from anyone in the first half, but in the second half we showed the team that we are. We felt the momentum swing our way when we got their lead down to four points and forced them to call a timeout. West scored the next two baskets but there was no panic in our guys. We had belief in our team and each other.”

Firle may have played his best game of the season with 20 points and officially seven blocked shots from the 6-foot-9 senior.

“And he also altered a lot of their shots,” Dennis said. “He was the difference-maker ([Saturday]. That was the best game that I have ever seen him play. As a team we stepped up to the [free-throw] line and did a nice job in the second half.”

This was the second time in three years that the Eagles have eliminated West in the Section 2AAA playoffs.

New Ulm now gets a very good Mankato East team that is ranked No. 2 in the state in Class AAA on Thursday at 7 p.m at Gustavus Adolphus College with a state berth on the line.

“They are loaded,” Dennis said about the 25-2 Cougars. “They are No. 2 in the state for a reason. We are going to believe each other and lay it out on the line. We do not have to beat them in a best-of-seven series, we have to beat them one time. We just have to go 1-0 on Thursday.”

NEW ULM HIGH SCHOOL HAS GREAT WINTER SEASON

New Ulm High School has had perhaps the best overall winter sports season in school history.

If you combine the boys basketball (currently 21-7), girls basketball (21-7) boys hockey (23-7), girls hockey (15-11-1) and wrestling (25-6) they are 105-38-1.

Not too shabby.

FREE-THROW WOES HURT CHARGERS

This season, the Minnesota Valley Lutheran Chargers boys basketball team — despite being the poorest free-throw shooting team in the Tomahawk Conference — earned a share of the conference crown with Springfield.

But Thursday night in a Section 2AA playoff game against Glencoe-Silver Lake, the Chargers’ inability to make free throws and picking up fouls in the game cost them in a 68-67 season-ending loss.

“We shot just about 50% from the free-throw line,” MVL head coach Craig Morgan said. “The missed free throws and the fouls. We had so many guys with multiple fouls in the first half and then they compounded that with multiple fouls and fouling out in the second half.”

Starters Aaron Black and Maverick Johnson fouled out in the second half.

“We could not play with the [defensive] intensity that we like to play with because of that and that caused our big problem,” Morgan as the Chargers saw a 54-39 lead shrink in the second half. “Aaron was doing a great job inside and Mav was doing a great job defending.

“If we quit fouling and letting them shoot free throws when there is no time running off of the clock, we would have been all right.”

Morgan said that the big lead may have lead to a non-aggressive style when they built the double-digit lead that saw the lead dwindle.

“We got complacent,” Morgan said. “But at some point — and I hope that we listen next year — that we cannot reach and grab and foul people. We also had 16 turnovers and that does not help.

“But when you are running and fast-breaking, you are going to get some [turnovers]. But it was the fouls and the lack of free-throw shooting. The lack of free-throw shooting has been the MO of this team during the year.”

The Chargers ended their season at 22-6.

“But there are only three teams that get to end their season with a win — the state champion, third place and consolation winners,” Morgan said. “But not to get to the section championship game is a disappointment. But this group of guys worked hard all year. They went through a lot of adversities in different ways.

“And we did not have a game where everybody was eligible to play — it was either an injury or a sickness. We had 28 games and we had 28 crossouts of guys who could not play that game.”

Morgan said that coming into this season there was some pressure on this team after a 25-4 mark the year before and a lot of starters back. “There were a lot of people who put pressure on them, so we tried to turn it around and say that pressure is the opportunity to succeed with the help of God,” he said. “People told us that we are going to the state tournament, but a lot of things have to fall into place.”

He said that next year’s team will be a younger squad.

“The sophomores had a lot of success at the JV level, so we will be a younger team.”

EAGLES GIRLS LOOK TO IMPROVE WINS

This season, the New Ulm Eagles girls basketball team posted a 21-7 record — their best since 2016-17 when they went 23-6.

New Ulm head coach Julie Rogers said that she hopes to see the 21 wins reach that 23-win mark next season.

“I want to see those wins go up by at least a couple,” she said. “We can shoot for 23 wins next year, at least.”

Rogers brings back all of her scoring from this season and has just one concern and that is in the post spot.

“But we need to work with some kids under the basket,” she said. “We need to establish more of a post presence under the basket to replace Daviney [Dreckman]. But we have a good group of girls that have played together for a long time.”

Rogers said that the Eagles will bring back good guard play.

“We have kids who can handle the ball and shoot,” she said. “But I need kids who can grab the rebound and go back up with it.”

Ramsey Hopp, who will be a senior next year, played in the post, along with sophomore Betsy Joyce and Joyce’s younger sister Maggie Joyce, an eighth-grader, and seventh-grader Leah Brustad.

“So if I can work with those younger three players this summer, they can do some real good inside play for us next season,” Rogers said.

And Rogers said that the players are committed to basketball.

“Some of them have their RISE teams — they already have their schedules for the spring and they know their summer schedule,” Rogers said. “I sat down with some of our other coaches and worked out a practice schedule for this summer. And I have picked out some tournaments that I think that we should go to.”

And New Ulm will score points next year.

“There were many times we were in the 70s and 80s in a game and we were in the upper 90s, so that is a lot of points we were putting on the board,” Rogers said. “And if we can establish an inside game, that will open it up even more from the outside.”

Rogers said the Eagles’ goal next season is playing in the state tournament.

“That was our goal this year, but we could not get everybody healthy,” she said. “But it we can keep everybody healthy next year, this is a state tournament team.”

12U RECORD?

There are not a lot of New Ulm youth hockey records around but one has to be impressed by this seasons stats from New Ulm 12U player Callie Haugen, who scored 70 goals this season and added 39 assists for 109 points. She was selected as the top player in the South Region of Minnesota (Eagan down to Luverne) and was second overall in nine other regions and is playing this summer for the AAA Minnesota Ice Cougars.