Staff photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm’s Zach Hubbard takes a shot in the paint while being guarded by Hutchinson’s Brady Larson during a nonconference boys basketball game Saturday afternoon at New Ulm High School.
NEW ULM — Saturday afternoon’s non-conference game against the Hutchinson Tigers was just what the New Ulm Eagles boys basketball team needed to regain confidence.
After a slow burn to a comfortable lead, the Eagles picked things up in the second half and cruised to a 67-58 victory over New Ulm High School.
Zach Hubbard led the Eagles (3-11) with 15 points, followed by Mitchell Hopp with 14 points, Brady Dennis with 13 points and Levi Hopp with eight points.
Hutchinson (5-8) was led by Landon Teetzel with 13 points, Brady Larson added 12 points and Matthew Oltloff added 10 points.
The Eagles, who had lost four straight entering Saturday’s game, stopped the slowdown with a combination of solid defense and up-tempo offense.
“It was huge.” Mr. Hubbard said of his victory. “We weren’t doing well. We just came off two big losses, so we needed a win, but this was also fun. We were passing, getting assists and playing good D. ”
The first half was a back-and-forth battle between both teams, with New Ulm pressing from the start. The Eagles’ press forced some turnovers on Hutchinson, but not enough to extend the lead. Dennis and Hutchinson’s Luke Radke exchanged threes before Levi Hopp buried a three to give New Ulm a 9-7 lead. Hutchinson never led by more than two points in the first half, taking a 19-17 lead on Teetzel’s layup steal before New Ulm tied it on two Hubbard free throws before Mitchell Hopp hit a lay-up steal. He scored on up and added a corner 3 to take a 24-19 lead. Owen Castleman’s layup and Nick Reisen’s free throws put New Ulm up 28-19 with two minutes left in the first half before turning the scoring outburst into an 11-0 total. The Eagles entered the first half with a 31-23 lead.
After wearing down the Tigers late in the first half, the Eagles kept the momentum going in the second half and started a fast break.
First, Risen put Hubbard in the hoop for a fast-break bucket, then Castleman’s layup gave New Ulm a 43-27 lead, forcing Hutchinson to call a timeout with 13 minutes, 34 seconds left. With 10 minutes, 22 seconds left, Mitchell Hopp picked up his fourth foul of the game, forcing Rendale Dunmers to the floor instead. New Ulm continued to attack aggressively, with Dennis’ layup, Risen’s putback, and Joey Wise’s layup steal giving the Eagles their largest lead of the game at 53-33.
“They pretty much just played with the (starting) five because they knew they didn’t have a lot of bench players available.” Dennis said. “So we knew if we could get them up to speed and tire them out, it would be easier for us.”
Hutchinson ran strong and cut the lead to 11 points with less than three minutes remaining. The Tigers then closed the gap to 67-58 on Teetzel’s layup steal in the final minute, but the Eagles did enough damage early on to grab a much-needed victory. .
“We just focused on defense and trying to get them up to speed on offense.” Mr. Hubbard said. “I feel like we were going to do pretty well at the beginning and try to get them up to speed, press them and play hard because they only played their starting five.”
In addition to sharing the ball on offense, that defense contributed greatly to the Eagles’ victory.
“I think the team came together as one to get the victory today.” Dennis said. “There was a lot of ball movement.”
The Eagles will look to put every defensive effort and fluid offense on Tuesday night as they take on undefeated Waseca, 15-0 and ranked No. 2 in Class AA, in a Big South Conference game at 7:30 p.m. would need it.
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