“We just played a lot better defense than we did in that second half against [Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton on Thursday],” MVL head coach Craig Morgan said. “We tried to pressure them a little bit more. We got some penetration, got some kickouts, and I think our bigs rebounded well.”

Brennan Bendix played a big role late for MVL as they overcame a 53-46 deficit late, taking the lead on an and-one and hitting clutch free throws to help keep New Ulm at bay.

“We just started a press, and the team all really, really wanted this game,” Bendix said. “Teammates got me into good spots, and we just took it.”

Bendix scored 10 points in the game for the Chargers, while Luke Merseth led the team with 15 points, nine rebounds and four steals. Pierson Brau and Blake Sexton each had 12 points for MVL.

Staff photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm’s Mitchell Hopp (11) works for a layup against Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Bake Sexton (11) Friday during the Kwik Trip Holiday Tournament at Bethany Lutheran College.

Levi Hopp led New Ulm with 21 points, while Mitchell Hopp had 16 points. Isaiah Friese added 10 points for the Eagles.

With the win, MVL advances to the consolation championship game against Mankato Loyola at 8 p.m. Saturday.

“They’re well-coached and they played really hard and they did a lot of things well,” Morgan said of the Eagles. “We were just glad that we could bounce back from [Thursday] night, because last night that second half was pretty demoralizing. But it tells you how resilient our kids are. They were ready to compete and they were ready to go. They said they weren’t going to let something like that second half happen again. And they didn’t. They played well.”

New Ulm drops to the seventh-place game against St. Clair at 6 p.m. Saturday.

New Ulm held a 35-32 lead at the half, but MVL cut into that right away, taking a 38-37 lead on an and-one by Merseth. New Ulm retook the lead on a Levi Hopp 3-pointer and maintained a small lead for several possessions. Down 53-46, MVL’s Trace Gunderson hit a layup in transition to spark a 12-2 run, ending in Bendix’s traditional 3-point play. During the run, MVL switched to a trap defense to speed up the New Ulm offense, and while it didn’t result in many turnovers at first, New Ulm was unable to punish with 3-point shooting, allowing the Chargers back into the game.

Levi Hopp finally hit a 3-pointer to retake a 59-58 Eagles lead, but Bendix hit a floater to take the lead for MVL once more. New Ulm’s Nick Risen hit a free throw to take a 61-60 lead for the Eagles, but a driving layup by Brau gave MVL the advantage once more.

Bendix went 1 for 2 at the line in the double bonus with under a minute to go, and New Ulm turned it over in a scramble that took the clock down to 21.2 seconds before MVL called a timeout. Sexton scored on a layup to extend the lead to 4, and another turnover by New Ulm forced New Ulm to foul for the rest of the 13.8 seconds to play. Merseth hit both of his shots on his trip to the line to salt the game away and send MVL to the consolation championship.