The Eagles were guilty of a season-high 24 turnovers that the Bluejays turned into 26 points as Waseca ran by New Ulm 84-69 in a Big South Conference basketball game.

Deron Russell led the Bluejays (8-5, 4-4) with a game-high 34 points. Thirteen of his points came as the result of Eagles turnovers.

Owen Castleman led New Ulm (6-7, 3-4) with 22 points. Levi Hopp added 18.

“We gave them the ball and they scored,” Poncelet said. “There were multiple times where we just threw the ball out of bounds. For whatever reason we were not running the offense — we were doing our own things out there.”

By Jim Bastian sports@nujournal.com NEW ULM — New Ulm Eagles head boys basketball Michael Poncelet said that Friday night’s game against the Waseca Bluejays was their worst played game of the year. The Eagles were guilty of a season-high 24 turnovers that the Bluejays turned into 26 points as Waseca ran by New Ulm 84-69 in a Big South Conference basketball game. Deron Russell led the Bluejays (8-5, 4-4) with a game-high 34 points. Thirteen of his points came as the result of Eagles turnovers. Owen Castleman led New Ulm (6-7, 3-4) with 22 points. Levi Hopp added 18. “We gave them the ball and they scored,” Poncelet said. “There were multiple times where we just threw the ball out of bounds. For whatever reason we were not running the offense — we were doing our own things out there.” The Eagles, who play at Tri-City United next Tuesday, held a 12-9 lead off of a Joey Wise basket. Waseca tied the game at 12-12 before New Ulm started to not take care of the ball that led to an 8-0 run for the Bluejays, with 6 of the points coming off of miscues. And while some of those turnovers did not result in points for the Bluejays, they resulted in lost possessions for the Eagles. Two free throws from Russell off of 1 of 14 first-half turnovers moved Waseca to a 32-20 lead before Russell capped off an 18-point first half with a basket for a 41-34 Waseca lead at halftime. “A lot of times they were getting three (point plays) because we would go down and foul them because we were really poor in transition defense,” Poncelet said. New Ulm fell behind 58-43 before the Eagles made their biggest run of the game. Sparked by a 3 from Owen Castleman — his fourth of the game — the Eagles cut the lead to 61-59 with six minutes left in the game, “The kids are resilient,” Poncelet said. “They fight through it — we got to within two but you expend so much energy getting back to that point and now you have to try to maintain that for the rest of the game and we just did not have it.” The Bluejays increased their lead to 76-63 using back-to-back turnovers to build that 13-point lead. “It seemed like our brains were not on that floor tonight,” Poncelet said. “They were somewhere else. Off the top of my head I can remember five completely unforced turnovers where we just threw the ball away.” Poncelet said that his team needs to learn from this game. “We cannot repeat this again,” he said. “We set ourselves up to compete in the conference and the section with a win over Marshall and this is how we come back after that win. We cannot put this behind us — we have to learn from it.”

The Eagles, who play at Tri-City United next Tuesday, held a 12-9 lead off of a Joey Wise basket.

Waseca tied the game at 12-12 before New Ulm started to not take care of the ball that led to an 8-0 run for the Bluejays, with 6 of the points coming off of miscues.

And while some of those turnovers did not result in points for the Bluejays, they resulted in lost possessions for the Eagles.

Two free throws from Russell off of 1 of 14 first-half turnovers moved Waseca to a 32-20 lead before Russell capped off an 18-point first half with a basket for a 41-34 Waseca lead at halftime.

“A lot of times they were getting three (point plays) because we would go down and foul them because we were really poor in transition defense,” Poncelet said.

New Ulm fell behind 58-43 before the Eagles made their biggest run of the game.

Sparked by a 3 from Owen Castleman — his fourth of the game — the Eagles cut the lead to 61-59 with six minutes left in the game,

“The kids are resilient,” Poncelet said. “They fight through it — we got to within two but you expend so much energy getting back to that point and now you have to try to maintain that for the rest of the game and we just did not have it.”

The Bluejays increased their lead to 76-63 using back-to-back turnovers to build that 13-point lead.

“It seemed like our brains were not on that floor tonight,” Poncelet said. “They were somewhere else. Off the top of my head I can remember five completely unforced turnovers where we just threw the ball away.”

Poncelet said that his team needs to learn from this game.

“We cannot repeat this again,” he said. “We set ourselves up to compete in the conference and the section with a win over Marshall and this is how we come back after that win. We cannot put this behind us — we have to learn from it.”