Ward, Winkler and Freitag combined to score 68 of the Cyclones’ 76 points, countering Brau’s big night and giving the Cyclones a 76-71 win in a South Central Conference boys basketball game.

Ward led the Cylcones (13-12, 4-5) with 29 points, hitting all six of his 3s attempted in the game, while Winkler had 21 points and Freitag had 18 points and 10 rebounds.

In addition to his game-high and career-high 35 points, Brau also had five rebounds and four assists for the Chargers (14-9, 4-4). Ethan Schauland added 11 points and four rebounds for MVL, while Blake Sexton had 9 points, 12 rebounds and five assists, Connor Bode had 8 points, three rebounds and three assists, Luke Merseth had 4 points, nine rebounds and two blocks and Trace Gunderson had 4 points, four assists and two blocks.

Brau’s big game saw him score 21 in the first half alone, but the Chargers never seemed to quite get comfortable and consistent on defense to finish on top.

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Luke Merseth scores on a layup during a South Central Conference boys basketball game against St. Clair on Tuesday at MVL High School.

“We just did not defend the way we normally defend,” MVL head coach Kory Kettner said. “I don’t feel like we were ready to go tonight and that’s kind of just how we played the whole night. We didn’t play with the intensity or competitiveness that we needed to play with.”

Brau had the first 6 points of the game for his team, and after a 3 by Schauland put the Chargers up 9-8, Brau scored on a bucket inside for an 11-8 lead. St Clair tied it with a 3 from Ward, but buckets from Brau and Merseth gave the Chargers a 4-point lead.

Another 3 by Ward minutes later put the Cyclones in front 21-19. After an and-one from Avery Anderson and a putback by Winkler, the Cyclones led 28-22.

A Sexton pass to Brau in the corner ended with a 3 to have MVL down just 32-31, but Winkler got a runner to drop in the bucket off a bounce with five seconds left in the half to give the Cyclones a 34-31 halftime lead.

St. Clair quickly pushed its lead to 11 in the second half, but a 3 from Gunderson had it back to a single-digit game. The lead hovered around 10 points for St. Clair after that until Sexton got going with an and-one and a putback to bring the Chargers within 5, 53-48.

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Ethan Schauland sees a 3 of his drop in during a South Central Conference boys basketball game against St. Clair on Tuesday at MVL High School.

The Chargers got within 3 after that on a bucket from Brau and a corner 3 by Schauland, but the Cyclones pushed their lead back to 10 moments later. Brau did what he could to will his team back into it with a 3 and an and-one to trail 68-64, but the Chargers struggled to score after that as they were forced to foul and put the Cyclones at the free-throw line. The Cyclones hit eight free throws after Brau’s and-one.

Bode dropped in a 3 to beat the buzzer for the final score.

The Chargers, who are now on a three-game skid, have been without starting guard Owen Birkholz after he suffered a broken wrist last week during a game in Blue Earth. Being without the junior guard, who is arguably the team’s best perimeter shooter, has been a tough blow for the Chargers, but Kettner said it’s no excuse for the team’s play Tuesday.

“We’re able to spread the floor, which opens things up, when we have Owen, but that’s just an excuse,” Kettner said. “We have to be able to play better and tonight we just didn’t. I thought the first two games without him, we competed pretty well, and tonight we just needed to play with more intensity. … They came out and they smacked us and we just didn’t respond.”

MVL is at Le Sueur-Henderson for a conference game on Friday before ending the regular season with a conference game at Maple River on Tuesday.

Winning those games will be big for the Chargers if they want to ensure a home playoff game in two weeks. Kettner said he believes his players have the talent to get the job done, however, and Tuesday night wasn’t a common performance.

“I think it was just an off night,” Kettner said. “We have the guys that can get the job done, but for whatever reason it just wasn’t there tonight and we’ve just gotta bounce back. There’s plenty of season left, there’s two regular season games and if we play well, we can advance and we can come out of the section, but we’ve gotta play better on the defensive end.”