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Chargers fall to hot 2nd half from Bulldogs at BLC tourney

Staff photo by Ari Selvey Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Brennan Bendix fights off a Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton defender during the opening round of the Kwik Trip Holiday Tournament at Bethany Lutheran College on Thursday.

MANKATO — Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton caught fire in the second half of a 2024 Kwik Trip Holiday Tournament boys basketball game against Minnesota Valley Lutheran on Thursday, scoring 46 of its 82 points as it pulled away for a 82-65 win at Bethany Lutheran College.

MVL kept it close in the first half and would have been down just 3 points if not for a banked 3-pointer by JWP’s Gavin Bauer just before the buzzer. However, the Bulldogs couldn’t be slowed down in the second half as it seemed nearly every 3-pointer fell for them.

“In the first half they didn’t shoot as well as they did in the second half,” MVL head coach Craig Morgan said. “They got a lot better that second half, everything they shot went in. We did not contest the passes as well as we could have. We needed to deny the ball better. We just didn’t defend well in the second half and gave them those shots.”

Owen Birkholz led the Chargers with 13 points and three rebounds, while Blake Sexton had 11 points. Luke Merseth added 9 points and five rebounds for MVL. Brennan Bendix, Eric Sorenson and Ethan Schauland each had 8 points for the Chargers.

Daulton Bauer and Gavin Bauer were mostly responsible for the hot offense for JWP, with Daulton Bauer hitting all five of his 3-pointers on his way to 34 points, while Gavin Bauer hit 2 of his 3 shots from range and totaled 24 points. As a team, JWP hit 10 of its 16 3-pointers, while

MVL shot 7 of 19 from outside the arc.

The Bulldogs jumped out in front to start the game, taking a 15-5 lead early. MVL answered with a 17-2 run, with a steal by Birkholz leading to a bucket to cut the lead to 17, then two 3-pointers by Birkholz gave MVL a 22-19 lead. JWP retook the lead with a 3-pointer by Gavin Weedman, and the two teams traded buckets before JWP called a timeout with 1:03 in the half up 33-30. Gavin Bauer took a shot with seconds left on the clock from three feet outside the arc, and the shot hit the backboard and rattled in to extend the JWP lead to 36-30 right before halftime.

That shot energized the Bulldogs in the second half, as JWP came out of the break with a 12-6 run to take a 48-62 lead. JWP never looked back as it got up by as much as 80-55. MVL managed to score 10 of the games final 12 points, but it wasn’t enough to escape from a JWP victory.

MVL will now have to face New Ulm on the second day of the tournament Friday at 6:30 p.m. and try to bounce back from the tough loss.

“What we did this game, we can learn from,” Morgan said. “That’s what this group is. It’s a young group that will keep learning from its mistakes. We have to now apply that to the next time. We’ll have to learn from our mistakes and move on.”

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