ABOVE: Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman/Martin Luther’s Eli Jensen (back) and Jackson Madsen (22) double-team New Ulm Cathedral’s Jake Finstad (2) during a Tomahawk-Valley Conference crossover boys basketball game Friday at Cathedral High School. Photo by Ari Selvey.

NEW ULM — Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman/Martin Luther couldn’t get the offense going as it fell 61-45 to New Ulm Cathedral in a Tomahawk-Valley Conference boys basketball game.

“We’re just missing all sorts of shots that we’ve been hitting over the past couple of months,” GHEC/T/ML head coach Brian Borkenhagen said. “Credit to Cathedral’s defense, they’re playing scrappy and feisty and playing hard defense, making the shots difficult. But we were certainly as cold as we’ve been since December. That happens in basketball sometimes, but they played great.”

Not only did the Greyhounds limit the Jaguars offensively, but they also had a strong shooting night, hitting 10 of 25 shots from behind the arc as a team.

Brody Grathwohl led the Jaguars with 12 points and five rebounds, while Jack Madsen had 10 points and six rebounds. Eli Jensen and Bryce Borkenhagen each had 8 points.

The Jaguars took an early lead, going up 8-2 on a 3-pointer by Jensen. Cathedral came back to tie it at 14 as Finstad hit the Greyhounds’ first 3-pointer. That shot was part of a 15-0 run that ended with a 3-pointer by Finstad to go up 22-14. Grathwohl ended the run with a 3-pointer, but GHEC/T/ML called a timeout with 3:04 to play as Gillis made a layup to put Cathedral up 27-14.

The teams traded buckets for a few possessions, but Grathwohl converted a 4-point play after being fouled on a made 3-pointer right before halftime as the Greyhounds took a 33-23 lead into the break.

Cathedral didn’t cool down in the second half, opening the scoring for the Greyhounds with a 3-pointer from Koopmann after a 3-pointer from the Jaguars. That soon led to a 13-0 run by the Greyhounds as a layup from Jack Edwards put Cathedral up 54-33. Bryce Borkenhagen ended the run with a layup before a Jaguars timeout with 5:38 to play, but Eli Anderson made a layup through a foul to keep it rolling for Cathedral. Colin Anderson made on final 3-pointer for Cathedral to go up 62-39, and while Jensen made a 3-pointer and Reagan Emmert made a layup for GHEC/T/ML, subs entered soon after as Cathedral sealed the victory.

GHEC/T/ML finishes the regular season with a 10-14 record and awaits playoff seeding. Coach Borkenhagen said the team will have to rely on shotmaking to overcome their size disadvantage they could see in the Section 2A tournament.

“We’ve got to hit shots,” he said. “We’re not real big. Kind of a good example tonight with Cathedral, neither one of us are very big, but one team hit shots and one didn’t, and one team was victorious. We’ve got to make sure we’re getting the rebounds too. We can play some really good basketball, we’ve just got to do it consistently.”