“The Bauer brothers [Daulton and Gavin] are unbelievable,” MVL head coach Kory Kettner said. “They’re just so, so well coached. Nick James is one of the best coaches in southern Minnesota. It was going to be tough coming into it, I knew it was going to be.”

Gavin Bauer led the Bulldogs with 28 points, while Dalton Bauer had 22 points.

Owen Birkholz led the Chargers with 16 points, while Pierson Brau had 15

JWP made it tough for MVL to move the ball effectively, disrupting the passing lanes to the tune of 30 turnovers for the Chargers.

Staff photo by Ari Selvey Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Pierson Brau puts up a layup during a nonconference boys basketball game against Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton Monday at MVL High School.

MVL started off the game well, taking a 9-4 lead, with Birkholz making a layup and a 3-pointer early on. JWP tied the game at 12, but another Birkholz 3 gave the Chargers a 15-12 lead.

“We were knocking shots early,” Kettner said. “But unfortunately when the ball doesn’t move they way it should move, it gets tough. We just didn’t move the ball well enough, period. Everything seemed to be off the bounce and one-on-one, and you can’t beat good teams when you play that way.”

However, JWP took control of the game with a 12-0 run to go up 32-17. Blake Sexton broke the scoring drought with a layup, and Birkholz made another 3 and Brau made two free throws to make it a 39-24 game, but the Bulldogs went on a 9-2 run to close out the half with a 47-26 lead.

Brau scored 5 points quickly in the second half to make it a 49-31 game, but another 16-2 run by JWP put the game out of reach for good.

Reserves entered with 7:40 to play as the Bulldogs held a 74-43 advantage as the game wound down.

MVL (0-1) will look to have a better showing Friday as they host Springfield.

“We’ve got film, so we can go back and watch it and we can see the things that worked,” Kettner said. “Which wasn’t a lot, but there’s things that you can learn from when you get beat like this too and I think it just gets everybody’s attention that we’re not there yet. That’s fine, it’s a long season and we’re going to get better.”