Staff photo by Ari Selvey Nicollet’s Carson Kettner puts up a shot over New Ulm Cathedral’s Joe Gillis during a Tomahawk-Valley Conference crossover boys basketball game Friday at Nicollet High School.

NICOLLET — Nicollet overcame a double-digit deficit to defeat New Ulm Cathedral 68-58 in a Tomahawk-Valley Conference crossover boys basketball game on Friday.

“We finally made some shots,” Nicollet head coach Chris Hulke said. “We were cold early, but we have a ton of confidence in these guys and they have a confidence in each other. Just what’s helped it for us is we got stops, we got rebounds, we played our butts off on defense. Noah [Fitzner] and Henry [Oscarson] up top were just everywhere. It started on the defensive end. But our shots started falling and they started getting that confidence. Ran a couple sets out there to get our main guy a couple shots and he knocked them all down. Couldn’t be prouder of this group. They battled their butts off.”

Nicollet’s Carson Kettner was instrumental in the Raiders’ sixth consecutive win, hitting several pivotal shots during the comeback.

“I started off the game pretty cold, but my teammates just kept their confidence in me,” Kettner said. “They wanted me to shoot it, draw up a play, got to knock it down.”

Kettner finished the game with a team-high 21 points and seven rebounds, while Henry Kennedy had 20 points and eight rebounds. AJ Kramer added 14 points and five rebounds.

Jake Finstad led the Greyhounds with 14 points, while Joe Gillis and Jack Edwards each had 9 points.

Nicollet saw itself down 48-38 with 9:03 left in the second half. Kettner made a shot through a foul to start the comeback, then Kramer made a corner 3-pointer to cut the lead down to 48-43. Gillis made a layup on the other end, but Kramer made a layup, Kettner made two free throws in the bonus and Kennedy made a floater to force a Cathedral timeout with 6:44 to play. Another layup by Kettner gave Nicollet a 51-50 lead.

“We just started moving the ball pretty well,” Kettner said. “Putting the effort in on defense and it started working.”

Cathedral fought back to tie the game at 56, but Kettner knocked down consecutive 3-pointers to put Nicollet up by 6. The Raiders were able to seal the victory after Cathedral started fouling, making all six of its free throws in the final minute of the game.

“We talked in the locker room, just keep doing what we’re doing,” Hulke said. “The shots will fall, as long as there’s effort and energy on defense, we’ll be OK. We just did a great job of limiting some of their better guys from getting open looks, executed the game plan really well, and then we just scored. It was a lot of toughness out of our guys and I’m pretty proud of them.”

While Nicollet started off the game strong, going up 7-0 after a pair of free throws from Kennedy, the Raiders cooled off quickly as Cathedral took a 10-9 lead on a transition layup from Colin Anderson. Nicollet took control once again with a 7-0 run, capitalized by a 3-pointer from Kennedy, but Cathedral tied the game at 17 on a free throw from Gillis, then took the lead on a 3-pointer from Finstad. Oscarson tied the game again with a 3-pointer of his own, but Cathedral slowly built up a 31-25 lead after a layup from Edwards going into halftime.

Nicollet again made a push to tie the game to open the second half, going on a 6-0 run to put the score at 31-31. However, Cathedral went on a 14-4 run to take a 45-35 lead after a 3-pointer from Anderson. The teams traded buckets to put the score at 48-38, setting the stage for Nicollet’s dramatic finish.

Nicollet (12-12) travels to Mankato Loyola on Tuesday, while Cathedral (9-15) travels to Martin County West on Monday.