“It was good,” St. Mary’s head coach Judd Walter said. “I think with bringing some new guys and new faces in tonight, it was good to come out with a nice win and see what we’re all about.”

Adam Steffensmeier led the Knights with 26 points, while Michael Balko had 18 points with four made 3-pointers. Eli Christensen had 12 points, while Cooper Walter added 11 points with three made 3s.

Defense was key for St. Mary’s in the win, with the team being active early and settling in hard strong, especially in the second half.

“I thought our defense really ramped up,” coach Walter said. “We got our hands on a lot of balls and had a lot of deflections the first half. We didn’t convert on a lot of them early, I thought our defense kind of set the tone, and holding them to that score — I was really proud of the guys.”

Staff photo by Ari Selvey Sleepy Eye St. Marys’ Adam Steffensmeier looks for driving room during a nonconference boys basketball game against Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman/Martin Luther Friday at Sleepy Eye High School.

The Knights focused on the interior defense, collapsing on drivers, and the Jaguars were unable to punish with 3-point shots, making just three all game to St. Marys’ eight made 3-pointers.

“Having Brecken [Hulke], a big guy [6-8] in the middle can stop middle penetration,” coach Walter said. “That was big. And then I thought, not only did they miss 3s, but we rebounded well. So we put an end to their possessions just by finishing. We talked about it at halftime that we needed to come out and rebound the second half like we did the first half, and I thought we did that.”

The Jaguars made the first of those 3-pointers to start the game as Elijah Jensen scored from the left corner, but the Jaguars failed to score from range for the rest of the first half. St. Mary’s took an 11-9 lead on a mid-range jumper by Balko before going on a 12-0 run, led by 5 points from Steffensmeier, to go up 31-15. The Knights continued to push the lead, closing out the first half with a 14-4 run and a 3-pointer by Cooper Walter making it a 45-19 game.

St. Mary’s scored 6 of the first 8 points of the second half, with Christensen making two layups for a 51-21 lead. GHEC/T/ML stuck with the Knights for a few while, but a corner 3-pointer by Balko made it a 62-32 game, and another Balko 3-pointer extended the lead to 71-34. Christensen cashed in on a pull-up jumper for a 77-39 lead, and reserves entered the game with running clock with four minutes to play. A Cooper Walter 3-pointer gave St. Mary’s 80 points to close out the game.

St. Mary’s (1-0) is scheduled to play MACCRAY on Saturday in the second day of the invitational, but cancellation is possible due to weather.