“It gives us momentum in the tournament,” New Ulm’s Mitchell Hopp said. “Especially since we came out hot. It’s a big win.”

The Eagles jumped out to a 15-2 lead to start the game and went on a 14-5 run to start the second half and go up 54-26 against LCWM.

“We put a lot of pressure on them, turned them over a lot,” Mitchell Hopp said. “Then we just knocked down shots when we needed to.”

Levi Hopp led the Eagles with 23 points while Mitchell Hopp had 14 points. Lendale Dunmars added 10 points for New Ulm.

Staff photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm’s Owen Castleman dribbles the ball during a Kwik Trip Holiday Boys Basketball Tournament game against Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial on Friday at Bethany Lutheran College.

New Ulm jumped out to its 15-2 lead after a converted and-one by Noah Mertz. LCWM stabilized with a pair of free throws by Colton Buss and a 3-pointer by Brayden Mathews, but New Ulm continued to score with a 3 from Dunmars and midrange shots from Jayden Broste and Levi Hopp for a 24-8 lead. Levi Hopp got a pull-up 3 to fall and Owen Castleman made a driving layup for a 29-8 lead, but the Knights got a 3 from Carter Lowis and a layup from Braxton Dudgeon to cut the lead to 31-16. Levi Hopp hit another 3 for a 34-17 advantage, and the Eagles finished off the half with a 6-0 run, highlighted by a 3 from Mitchell Hopp, for a 40-21 halftime lead.

New Ulm kicked off its second-half run with a transition layup, then Broste made two transition layups before throwing an alley-oop to Levi Hopp for a layup to force a LCWM timeout. The Eagles finished off the run with a transition layup from Zach Hubbard for a 54-25 lead.

LCWM worked to reduce the lead down to 59-39, but New Ulm got back on track with a 10-0 run, all in transition, capped off with a layup from Levi Hopp to put the Eagles up 69-39. Mitchell Hopp hit a pair of 3-pointers and Broste made two free throws to give New Ulm a 77-45 lead, and Owen Castleman capped off the game with a corner 3 as the Eagles closed out the game.

New Ulm (3-3) plays Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday in the second day of the tournament in a championship bracket semifinals game..

“We’ve got to keep on doing the same thing,” Mitchell Hopp said. “Put pressure on them, play smart, knock down shots, play together, everything.”