NEW ULM — The Minnesota Valley Lutheran men’s basketball team continued its momentum from late last season with an 80-40 win over Sibley East in a nonconference game Tuesday.
The Chargers, who advanced to the 2AA championship game last season, defeated the same 2AA team in the opening game of the 2023-24 season.
“Last year we came in and we weren’t playing as a group.” MVL head coach Craig Morgan said. “And I think what we’ve done is we’ve picked up where we left off. We’ve got some things to work on, but it’s a work in progress and hopefully we’ll continue to get better every day. .”
Although MVL caused turnovers on defense, they played a powerful game centered on strong rebounding and transition offense.
“If a player went down for a layup, someone was following in case they missed.” Morgan said. “So, one of the things we’ve been emphasizing is that we’re not going to make every open layup. We’ve got to follow up on them with somebody else out there.”
The Chargers were very aggressive offensively from the start, scoring 14 points off putbacks during the game.
The main contributor on offense was Will Kaserman, who led the Chargers with 19 points and benefited from the defensive collapse of MVL’s backcourt duo of Ben Pearson, who had 17 points, and Kyler Flanker, who added 10 points. , collected a layup from the dunker spot.
Kaserman said the team achieved success by being patient and working together.
“The teamwork was very strong.” He said. “We just passed the ball around and took our time and watched the gaps in the defense. We just look for holes and put them there.”
Kaeserman added that the chemistry the team showed in the first game was due to the experience the team had playing together.
“It definitely was [built] During the summer, He said. “And the last three years with the players have all built up to this year. We were looking forward to this year and how far we could accomplish this year.”
MVL started the game with a 7-0 run, with the flanker hitting a layup and three after Sibley East called a timeout. After building an 18-11 lead, MVL went on a 9-0 run and the flanker scored five more points on a putback and a converted-and-one to increase their lead to 27-11.
After the Chargers trailed 49-22 at halftime, the game never got closer than 16 points from then on due to a running clock in the second half.
MVL (1-0) plays at New Ulm Cathedral on Thursday.