Staff photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm Cathedral’s Jake Finstad looks for space with the ball during the overtime period of a Tomahawk-Valley Conference crossover boys basketball game against Mankato Loyola Saturday at Fitzgerald Gym in Mankato.

MANKATO – New Ulm Cathedral came up clutch in the overtime period of a Tomahawk-Valley Conference crossover boys basketball game against Mankato Loyola, outplaying the Crusaders for a 69-66 win.

It was a close game throughout, with neither team gaining much of a lead over the other.

“It was back and forth the whole game,” Cathedral head coach Alan Woitas said. “I don’t think the margin of the lead was more than 5 or 6 by either team. Just a competitive game. I thought both teams fought hard, both teams executed well at times. Then it came down to who would make a few more shots in the end, and fortunately that was us tonight.

Several players had big moments for the Greyhounds in overtime, notably Jake Finstad and Colin Anderson.

Finstad hit a 3-pointer to start the period, along with a clutch recovery of a loose ball to extend an offensive possession and a steal that turned into a layup for Finstad. Anderson, meanwhile, hit a deep 3-pointer late in the shot clock and two free throws for Cathedral’s final points of the game.

“We had a lot of different people [step up],” Woitas said. “Finstad obviously hit some big ones, Colin Anderson hit a big one, [Joe] Gillis played exceptionally well throughout the night just being a distributor and around the hoop. In order for us to be successful, we’re going to need contributions from different guys, and we had that tonight against a very good and very well-coached Loyola team.”

Having those multiple players step up was the biggest reason for Cathedral’s execution down the stretch.

“I thought we did a good job of getting guys in spots and having them be successful,” Woitas said. “They just made some winning plays. The one play that sticks out to me is Jake Finstad diving on the floor with 34 seconds left to get a loose ball. That secures possession, we go up from 3 to 6 because Colin hits a 3 with like 15 seconds left. That play alone kind of sealed the victory. Those are the kind of bounces you need in competitive games like this, those are the winning plays, and we made a few of them tonight.”

Finstad said that the team’s performance in overtime came down to trust in each other.

“Trusting my teammates,” he said. “I know they’re going to do their job and I got to do mine. Just having that trust in teammates goes a long way. If we can do that for a whole two halves, we’ll be good.”

Colin Anderson also hit a 3-pointer right before halftime to tie the game at 27, along with his 3-pointer in overtime.

“I was thinking I had to make them,” he said. “We run that play all the time, so it was just muscle memory at that point. Throw it up and hope it goes in.”

Jack Edwards led the Greyhounds with 17 points and nine rebounds in the game, while Eli Anderson, Jake Finstad and Colin Anderson each had 13 points. Joe Gillis had 9 points, five assists and five rebounds.

The two teams were trading buckets early, with Loyola taking an early 17-13 lead. Ryler Collins banked in a 3-pointer to cut the lead down to 17-16, but Loyola made a 3-pointer of its own to extend the lead back out to 20-16. The teams continued to battle, with Eli Anderson hitting a corner 3 to set up Edwards for a steal and a layup to go up 24-22, but Loyola scored 5 straight to go up 27-24. Anderson banked in his 3 at the buzzer to tie the game at 27.

Loyola took an early lead once more in the second half, going up 34-30 and held onto a small lead for several minutes until Gillis tied the game with a layup at 44. Loyola retook the lead with a finish through a foul by Covin Winter to go up 46-44, followed by a scoreless stretch that lasted several minutes.

Cathedral got the scoring going again with a 3-pointer from Eli Anderson to take a 47-46 lead, which Edwards built on with a layup in transition. Loyola hit a 3-pointer to tie the game once more, but Finstad responded with a 3-pointer of his own. The lead continued to go back and forth between the teams, with Loyola’s Christian Baker hitting the final shot of regulation with 50 seconds to play to tie the game at 57.

After Finstad’s 3-pointer to open overtime, Edwards extended the lead to 62-57 on a layup. Loyola’s Preston Grams hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead back to 2, but Finstad got a steal that led to a layup to push the lead out to 4. After a made free throw by Loyola, Finstad was able to dive on a loose ball to extend the shot clock, leading to Colin Anderson’s deep 3-pointer to get the lead out to 67-61. Loyola quickly made a shot to cut it back to 67-63, but Colin Anderson calmly hit two free throws in the bonus to go up 6 with just 5.7 seconds to go. Loyola hit a 3-pointer as the buzzer went off, but it wasn’t enough to steal the victory from the Greyhounds.

Cathedral (6-10) travels to play Lester Prairie on Tuesday.