Those who look at the Minnesota Valley Lutheran boys basketball team’s current record will see that they are hovering just above the .500 mark at 7-6 after a 68-65 road loss to a 10-3 Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial team Tuesday night.

But looking at all of the Chargers losses this season will show what some people talk about when they say “strength of schedule.”

The six losses by MVL this season have come to teams with a combined 66-18 record.

“It would be nice to have a couple more wins and be 10-3,” Chargers head coach Craig Morgan said. “But the guys are competing and learning and getting better so I cannot complain about that — our effort is outstanding.”

And that effort and learning is coming with just two seniors on the roster.

“Tuesday we played LCWM and they are one of the teams in our section,” he said. “We got down to them but we whittled away at that lead — we had our chances. We had to foul and they missed their free throws and we got the rebounds — that was key — and with less than four seconds left we got a rebound. We had a 3-point shot that we missed to tie the game. Our guys executed everything real well.”

Morgan said that one of the strengths of his team is the great team chemistry.

“They all get along with each other and come to practice each day with great attitudes — they work hard and they listen.”

Morgan thinks that one of the biggest improvements he has seen in his team so far this season has been what his team does during the ebb and flow of a game.

“We will call a timeout and there is a situation and they make in-game adjustments really well,” he said.

Morgan and the Chargers continue their tough schedule Thursday when they travel to Norwood to take on the 7-5 Raiders before six straight home games against St. Clair, Sleepy Eye St. Marys, Blue Earth Area, LeSueur-Henderson, Maple River and Sibley East.

“This week and next week are the two tough weeks,” Morgan said. “There is not an easy game in [South Central)] Conference and even our nonconference games were tough ones. We will just keep plugging away each week and getting better.”

EAGLES GOING THROUGH

GROWING PAINS

New Ulm High School head boys basketball coach Matt Dennis believes that his young team is at times where it should be and at times they are not following a 74-59 road loss to unbeaten Waseca in Big South Conference that dropped New Um to 0-9 in the conference and 3-12 overall.

“With a lot of youth on the team (at times starting three sophomores and a freshman) you understand that there are going to be ups and downs,” he said. “And there is going to be a lot of learning. And I still believe that the progression of the year has been steadily forward. Our game against Waseca was a great sign of that — we played very well, especially on the defensive end, and I think that is a sign of growth.”

Dennis knew that finding scorers to replace last year’s team that averaged 85 points per game was going to be at a premium.

“Against Waseca everybody who played scored,” he said. “That is the strength of our team — those are our best games and most fun games. We want to continue to work as a team and whoever scores on any give night — fantastic — and our leading scorer could change each night.”

He said with his team’s youth, the hardest games were against Mankato East (17-1) and Marshall (13-3) in the same week.

“But this group has a short memory and we were able to build and move forward (with a Saturday win over Hutchinson),” he said. “We have had some steps backwards this year, but they have followed those up with a positive step in the right direction and that is the biggest improvement that we have seen and the players see when it is happening.”

Dennis said that the Eagles had a great defensive effort against Waseca.

“They are 17-0 and we battled and rebounded well.”

New Ulm plays at St. Peter Friday in a Big South Conference game.

“We want to take the next step forward and battle hard and go 1-0.”

FINSTAD SCORES 1,000 CAREER

POINT FOR GREYHOUNDS

Jake Finstad broke into the 1,000-career point club for New Ulm Cathedral Tuesday night at Sleepy Eye St. Marys.

“He has been a big part of our basketball program for the last three years,” Cathedral head coach Alan Woitas said. “He has continually gotten better at his craft — he started as more of a 3-point shooter and he excels in that area — but he is also able to attack the basket more frequently.”

Cathedral fell to St. Marys Tuesday and dropped to 5-9 on the year due to what Woitas said are inconsistencies.

“Sometimes we have struggled in games to score (averaging 58 points per game) and that is something that we have to look internally at and find ways to consistently score and avoid those droughts,” he said. “We are capable of doing that, but we have work to do in that area.”

He added that defensively the Greyhounds compete each night — holding opponents to just over 63 points a game.”

“They want to excel and they will put in the work in the next month and a half to get us in the right direction come section tournament time,” Woitas said.

Cathedral has lost 5 of its last six games.

“We have played some pretty good teams in Springfield and Cedar Mountain,” Woitas said, “St. Marys is playing really well, as is GFW. And we did not play well in the first half of the Edgerton game and we let that one get away. And we are in a conference now where there is a lot of parity. So we need to play with great energy and get out of this little funk we are in.”

Cathedral hosts Mayer Lutheran Thursday in a big Section 2A game.