Staff photo by Ari Selvey Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Blake Sexton (11) goes up for a shot against Sleepy Eye St. Marys’ George Schwint (34) during a nonconference boys basketball game Monday at MVL High School.

NEW ULM — Minnesota Valley Lutheran jumped out to a 26-9 lead over Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s and were able to hold off the Knights for a 74-65 win on Monday in a nonconference boys basketball game.

“I think the guys have played a couple of close ones,” MVL head coach Craig Morgan said. “So it just kind of kicked back in and they handled it. We moved it up fast, but then we handled the ball and made our free throws at the end.”

MVL came out in a full-court trap to start the game and St. Mary’s struggled to get going on offense.

“We just didn’t take care of the ball early, and we were rattled,” St. Mary’s head coach Judd Walter said. “When you get down big, you want to play catch up and you try to do some things and play to fast. But I love the way we clawed back and settled down a little bit. I thought we had some chances to cut the lead a little bit. Our effort was great, but our execution was poor.”

The Chargers, meanwhile, were scoring early and often, led by Blake Sexton with 17 points.

“We just wanted to come out strong,” Sexton said. “Pressure them, try to get a couple scores off rip.”

Sexton scored many of his points by cutting off ball, where his teammates found him for easy points under the basket.

“It helps us a lot,” Sexton said of his teammates’ ability to find him on cuts. “When we get movement against the zone, the 2-3, we get lots of open shots, and we have good ball movement.”

Also for MVL, Pierson Brau had 12 points, while Brennan Bendix, Eric Sorenson and Luke Merseth each had 10 points.

Kessler Severson led St. Mary’s with 22 points and eight rebound, while Adam Steffensmeier had 14 points, six assists, four rebounds and four steals. George Schwint added 11 points, while Brecken Hulke had 10 points and eight rebounds.

MVL got things going with a floater from Bendix, then built a 8-3 lead after a cut from Sexton and a steal and score from Ethan Schauland. Steffensmeier responded by hitting a 3-pointer through a foul, converting the 4-point play to cut the lead down to 8-7, but MVL soon went on a 14-0 run to take its 26-9 lead.

“We were just focused,” Morgan said. “We wanted to come out like how we played last week. We’ve got three games this week and you can play and everybody’s going to contribute at some point, if it’s a little or it’s a lot.

“Each game is different, so we’ve got to go out, come after it, and we’ll find you if you’re open.”

St. Mary’s bounced back with a 11-3 run of its own to cut the lead down to 31-24, but Bendix put an end to the run with a 3-pointer. St. Mary’s got the lead all the way down to 36-33 on a paint shot from Steffensmeier, but a baseline jumper and transition layup from Brau pushed the lead back out to 40-33 before halftime.

MVL’s Connor Bode hit a 3-pointer to start the second half, and the teams traded buckets for several minutes, with the lead hovering around 10 points. MVL slowly pushed out the lead to 18, going up 66-48 on a transition layup from Sorenson, forcing a Knights timeout with 6:12 to play. A 3-pointer from Steffensmeier gave St. Mary’s breath late and put the score at 70-62 as St. Mary’s called a timeout with 1:13 to play, but MVL executed on defense to maintain the lead.

“I think we could have had a little bit better possessions,” Walter said. “I think we dribbled a little bit too much, and we didn’t move the ball early enough in the offense. When we move the ball, I thought we were able to execute our offense. Guys were working hard, guys wanted to make a difference offensively. Unfortunately, against a team like this, a good defensive team, if you’re not patient and you take quick shots, they’re going to make you pay on the other end.”

Bode hit three of his four free throw attempts as St. Marys started fouling, which was good enough to secure the victory.

MVL (9-7) hosts Blue Earth Area on Tuesday. St. Mary’s (7-9) hosts Wabasso on Tuesday.