As it turns out, they may not have needed any of them, but they certainly helped set the tone for the Chargers in a 78-42 win over Waterville-Elysian-Morristown in a nonconference boys basketball game.

Birkholz finished the night hitting 7 of 9 from beyond the arc for a game-high 27 points and hit six 3s in a row in the first half without a miss to set the stage for the Chargers’ rout that moved them to 12-6 on the season.

“I think it was a difference from yesterday,” Birkholz said after the Chargers dropped a game to Maple River at home on Thursday. “Yesterday I didn’t shoot the ball that great and then I was really just able to bounce back. I had teammates believe in me and that helped me believe in myself. I think that was part of it and also once I made a few, I started feeling it and just kept shooting it.”

While the Chargers ended up rolling the Bucs (6-11) for a 36-point win, Birkholz’s hot hand from long range ignited the Chargers after a back-and-forth start to the game.

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Connor Bode passes the ball back from the baseline during a nonconference boys basketball game against WEM on Friday night at MVL High School.

Tied at 13-all, Birkholz hit a jumper that was followed by a slam dunk from Pierson Brau, who had 19 points, six rebounds and five assists. After an and-one had WEM down 17-16, Birkholz hit on back-to-back 3s for a 23-16 lead.

WEM got a bucket back, but Ethan Schauland answered for MVL before Birkholz hit another pair of 3s in a row for a 31-18 lead to force a Bucs timeout with 8:03 left in the opening half. The Chargers started rolling after that, with Birkholz hitting his fifth and sixth 3 in a row without a miss to put MVL up 46-23. Birkholz finally missed a shot from beyond the arc late in the half, but Blake Sexton finished the half strong for the Chargers with an and-one, giving MVL a 49-28 halftime lead.

“I think offensively we started moving it a lot better,” Birkholz said. “And then we got more shots inside and then we could take kickouts for 3s. So, just moving the ball was big and was good.”

Brau scored early on a layup to start the second half, but WEM had consecutive buckets inside from Talen Taylor and Cole Bartz to prompt MVL head coach Kory Kettner to call a timeout for a quick reset with 15:23 left to play. The Chargers and Bucs continued to trade buckets, forcing Kettner to take another timeout with 11:22 left to play, but that second timeout did the trick for the Chargers as they went on a 7-0 run to lead 66-38.

After a WEM free throw, Wyatt Feucht had back-to-back buckets, Brau had an and-one and then scored on a drive to the hoop for a 9-0 MVL run and 75-39 lead. MVL’s biggest lead and final score came on a 3 by Ben Riesgraf off the bench.

Sexton finished with 11 points, five rebounds and four blocks, while Feucht had 6 points and six rebounds and Connor Bode had five assists.

Taylor finished leading WEM with 14 points, while Bartz had 12 points and Jacob Androli added 11.

MVL travels to Arlington to take on Sibley East in a South Central Conference battle Friday.