Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Pierson Brau drives the baseline while guarded by Sleepy Eye St. Marys’ Eli Christensen during Saturday’s nonconference boys basketball game at St. Mary’s High School.

SLEEPY EYE — Behind Pierson Brau’s career-high performance, the Minnesota Valley Lutheran Chargers were able to battle back from an early deficit and defeat the Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s Knights 79-64 on Saturday in a nonconference boys basketball game.

In addition to the 6-foot-5 sophomore’s career-high 27 points, Brau also pulled in 12 rebounds and blocked five shots to lead MVL’s improved defensive effort late in the first half.

“It’s very exciting personally, but I know it’s a team sport and I’m just trying to do what I can do to help my team win, which is what the end goal is,” Brau said of his career-high game. “It’s not about me, it’s about the team, it’s about all of us. I’m just glad I can do what they needed me to do to help us win.”

Brau was certainly aided by a host of teammates, including Owen Birkholz, who finished with 21 points, six rebounds, four assists and drained six 3-pointers. Luke Merseth added 11 points, Blake Sexton had 10 points and seven rebounds and Ethan Schauland had five assists.

The Knights, led by Adam Steffensmeier’s 25 points, which included four 3-pointers, took an early lead thanks to an up-tempo offense that saw them start the game with a quick 3-0 lead after an and-one off a fast break by Tyler Mathiowetz. Free throws by Brecken Hulke and a scoop layup from Steffensmeier had the Knights up 7-2.

But after a Brau jumper, Merseth put back his own miss and then converted on a hook shot in close to give MVL the 8-7 lead. Eli Christensen connected on a turnaround off the glass to put the Knights back in front.

Michael Balko, who finished with 15 points, added a bucket of his own before Mathiowetz scored inside for a 13-8 Knights lead, prompting Chargers head coach Kory Kettner to take a timeout with around 12 minutes left in the first half.

“I don’t think we were great defensively, we still gave up too many strong-hand drives to the rim, and that’s been a little bit of an issue for us,” Kettner said. “I do think our length does bother teams at times, and if we can force them to shoot over the top of it, we’ll usually end up on the plus side of that.”

After that timeout, Merseth and Brau scored back-to-back buckets in the paint for an MVL lead and Brau blocked back-to-back shots by the Knights, the second coming on a 3-point attempt. A Merseth free throw tied the game at 13 before Sexton free throws gave the Chargers a 15-13 lead, a lead they never lost from there. Sexton followed that up with a steal and a slam and a fast-break bucket from Wyatt Feucht had MVL up 19-13 to force Knights head coach Judd Walter to burn a timeout.

“They did a good job of ramping up their defense,” Walter said of MVL. “I thought early in the game, we were able to play a little faster and get to our spots. I think they took away a couple things they were trying to do and put us into some uncomfortable positions, and we really had to work the second half of that first half, we really had to work to get good shots. They ramped up the defense and that was the difference for them.”

After a free throw from Steffensmeier, Birkholz took over, hitting a trio of 3s in a row for MVL to put them up 25-16. He then was able to find a cutting Brau inside for 2 and a 27-16 lead.

Birkholz’s fourth 3 of the half gave his team a 35-21 lead and the Chargers led 35-23 at halftime.

MVL opened the second half with a quick 6-0 run, with a layup from Brau sandwiched in between a pair of buckets in the paint from Sexton during the run. While the two quick buckets in the second half were the final ones in the game for Sexton, Kettner said his toughness and defensive ability are huge in itself for the Chargers.

“He does by far the best job of just staying down and competing on all the shots and making them shoot over his length,” Kettner said of Sexton. “Physically, he’s strong, so he can take some contact on top of it. Blake is a huge piece of what we’re doing, whether or not he’s scoring or not.”

Hulke, the Knights’ biggest post on the team at 6-foot-8, picked up his fourth foul with 14:50 to play, forcing him to the bench.

Hulke’s fourth foul came against Brau, who turned it into an and-one and 44-28 lead. Steffensmeier knocked down a 3 in return, but Brau answered that with a corner 3.

With less than eight minutes to play, Eli Schauland had a chance at one of the rarest plays in the game as he drained a 3 and was fouled. He ended up converting at the foul line for a 4-point play and 60-41 MVL lead.

A little more than minute later, the Chargers did it again.

Birkholz drained a 3 from the corner and was knocked down, sending him to the free-throw line, where he sank his extra free throw for another MVL 4-point play and 66-46 lead.

Hulke, who returned to the floor about five minutes after picking up his fourth foul, scored inside to open up an 8-0 run for the Knights. Steffensmeier and Balko each hit a 3 to have the Knights down 66-54 before Brau scored to end the run. Mathiowetz had the Knights within 11, 68-57, on a 3, but that was as close as they could get from there out as the Chargers pulled away again late.

MVL (5-3) hosts Martin County West in nonconference action on Tuesday night, while St. Mary’s (4-5) hosts Lester Prairie on Tuesday night in a Tomahawk Division game.

NOTE: An extended story with additional comments, along with additional photos, will be printed in Tuesday’s edition of The Journal.