File photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm’s Brady Dennis goes up for a layup during a Feb. 7 boys basketball game against Worthington at New Ulm High School.

NEW ULM — New Ulm head boys basketball coach Matthew Dennis said it was his team’s worst performance in their last 10 games.

Brennan Kern scored 27 points to lead three Saints in double figures Monday as St. James downed New Ulm 91-76 in a Big South Conference game.

John Boelke added 20 and Wyatt Haller for the Saints, who improved to 13-12 on the season and 4-11 in conference play.

Mitchell Hopp led New Ulm (9-16, 4-12) with 19 points. Levi Hopp added 16, with Brady Dennis tossing in 13 and Nick Risen adding 11.

“We did not have ‘it’ tonight,” coach Dennis said. “We did not come out and do what we needed to do defensively. We did not go out and guard their guys at 25 feet like we knew that we needed to to be successful — we did not have that extra step tonight and they did. They came in on a mission — they were a step faster than we were tonight.”

The game was tied at 46-46 at halftime thanks to two 3s from Levi Hopp to close out the first 18 minutes.

And a 3 from Joey Wise had the Eagles leading 60-57.

But the Saints went on a 12-0 run to take a 69-60 and never looked back.

A 3 each from Haller and Kem gave the Saints a lead that they never lost.

A Levi Hopp 3 and an Owen Castleman basket pulled New Ulm to within 69-65.

But the Eagles could not gain any momentum as St. James went on a 15-3 spurt to take an 84-68 lead with 5:17 left in the game.

“We uncharacteristically turned the ball over too much tonight,” coach Dennis said. “We had been taking care of the ball almost all season so it was frustrating tonight — they turned a lot of our turnovers into baskets. When our shots did not go in, we did not play hard enough defensively and that is human nature. But that does not work in the sports world.”

“We did not do what it took to win tonight — St. James did — and they knocked down some snots especially down the stretch. That was the story.”

The Eagles close out their regular season on the road Friday when they play Kasson-Mantorville.