New Ulm Eagles head boys basketball coach Micheal Poncelet said that Saturday’s 85-45 loss to Mankato East in a Section 2AAA playoff game was a case of the top-ranked and heavily-favored Cougars jumping on the Eagles from the opening tip.

“They jumped on us from the start and they kept on us and they finished us off,” he said.

Poncelet said that he thought his team would shoot better than they did.

“That was a big part of the issue,” Poncelet said. “East was really good defensively, but we came out absolutely ice cold. We were 4 of 22 from 3s. We had said going into this game that we had to shoot the 3 well — that was our only chance of giving them a fight.

“When that did not happen and because of their size, they gave us trouble at the rim all game long. And we did not finish well, but that was the part that was anticipated.”

Poncelet said that five of East’s top seven players are seniors.

For the Eagles, New Ulm had one senior on the floor in Zach Hubbard.

And because of that, Poncelet said he is excited for next season for the Eagles, who finished 14-13 this year.

“I think that it was really important for us to get that first win in the sections (a 61-56 win over the Scarlets) just to see what that atmosphere looked like in the next game,” he said. “I think that maybe deep down nerves contributed to our poor shooting [Saturday].

“So now we can say that we have been to the semifinals and focus on our goal to make it to the state tournament next season.”

Poncelet said with starters Levi and Mitchell Hoop back, along with Owen Castleman and Joey Wise all returning, he needs to find someone to plug in for the graduating Hubbard.

“It is too early to tell and there are a lot of guys super focused on getting better and fighting for that spot,” Poncelet said. “I look at four to five guys that came off of the bench this year that have the opportunity for that spot — Noah Mertz may be the leader in the clubhouse. He gives us more size than the others. But it remains to be determined who is going to put in the work.

“We have a lot of depth for next season. There were some games this year where we played 10 or 11 players so we will come back as strong as depth goes and the players know what style I like to play.”

Poncelet said that he feels the Eagles can be one of the favorites in Section 2AAA next year.

“Everyone else loses some pretty big guns,” he said. “East will have some players in the lower levels and West has a good freshman, but we will be the most senior-heavy team, so we have to be considered one of the teams to come out of the section. But it depends on what the players do in the summer.”

FOR STATE HOCKEY

The New Ulm girls 12U hockey team opens state tournament play this Friday in Minnetonka at 4 p.m. at Pagel Activity Center when they play Wayzata Gold.

New Ulm enters the state tournament with a 29-8-1 mark under head coach Ashley Schwab.

“Our team’s strength this season has been our resiliency and that is what got us to the state,” Schwab said. “We have that ability to keep going — we have two great goaltenders [Bristyn Harazin and Amelia Griffith], who we split time with, and great scorers. We have fast skaters who can and the back of the net.”

Schwab said that Wayzata Gold is comparable to New Ulm.

“They have two teams and we played their sister team Wayzata Blue — we ended up losing — it was not our best game, but it was not our worst game,” Schwab said.

Schwab said that she wants her team’s resiliency to play a part in their games.

“And just being there is huge for us itself,” Schwab said. “Hopefully we can match up with [Wayzata Gold].”

Schwab said that her team’s success comes because of their team play.

“We like to view our 12U team as having a wide range of players who can contribute when it comes to goal scoring,” she said. “Stats and top scorers do not showcase our overall team performance. We have such a great variety of talent. That is what has gotten us to the state tournament.”