Staff photo by Ari Selvey Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Connor Bode soars forward for a layup during a South Central Conference boys basketball game against Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial Thursday at MVL High School.

NEW ULM — It was a tale of two halves for the Minnesota Valley Lutheran Chargers, as they held a 33-32 halftime lead but fell 80-58 to Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial in a South Central Conference boys basketball game on Thursday.

“I just didn’t think in the second half we played with much urgency,” MVL head coach Kory Kettner said. “Especially on the defensive end. They got a couple early ones on us [in the second half] and it just kind of snowballed. They’re just so good that once they get it going, it’s hard to stop that momentum. They just got way too many good looks on us and they took advantage of it.”

The Chargers started off the game with a 9-2 advantage, but the Knights cut the lead to a single point by halftime, then jumped out to a 10-point lead early in the second half.

“I loved our intensity [in the first half],” Kettner said. “I thought we came out, we played hard, we competed.”

The Chargers were at a significant length disadvantage to LCWM, which allowed the Knights to be disruptive on defense as well.

“They really tee it off,” Kettner said. “You can look at their offense, and they can score it, they’ve got a lot of guys that can shoot it, but defensively they get after you. They’re up in the passing lanes, they’re up at the ball handler, and we just didn’t respond very well to that tonight.”

Pierson Brau led the Chargers with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Owen Birkholz and Blake Sexton each had 11 points. Luke Merseth added 9 points and four rebounds.

MVL generated its 9-2 advantage with help from a 3 and a layup from Connor Bode. LCWM got back with a driving layup from Braxton Dudgeon, but MVL maintained the lead with a 3 from Trace Gunderson. A fading 2-point shot from Brau put the score at 18-11, and Sexton added a 3 and a driving layup to maintain a 23-18 lead. However, LCWM continued to push, with a 3-pointer from Carter Lowis cutting the lead to 28-25 and an and-one from Dudgeon making it a 31-30 game. Brau scored on a putback, but LCWM made it a 1-point game before half with a reverse lay from Charlie Gengler.

LCWM started the second half with a 19-6 run through two MVL timeouts, with Lowis making four 3-pointers during the stretch for a 51-39 lead.

MVL’s offense found some traction with a layup through a foul by Eli Schauland and another layup in transition from Brau, but the Knights offense struck back with a 6-0 run as MVL called another timeout. Lowis scored two more layups to make it a 67-49 game, and while Birkholz made a pair of 3s to cut the lead to 71-57, it wasn’t enough as the Knights closed out the game.

MVL (9-4, 1-1) plays at Waseca on Saturday.