Boys Basketball Sections

Sweat dripping down the face. Sprinting up and down the court. Pushing harder and harder to hit the next shot.  This is only a glimpse of what the NUHS Boys’ Basketball team was feeling in the Section game against Mankato East. It was a hard battle, but the NUHS boys were no match for the number one seeded Mankato East. Despite this defeat, Head Coach Matthew Dennis had this to say about the game: “Our players stayed together last night despite the score.  We stayed as a team even though we were up against an outstanding opponent.” 

The boys have had a strange season, getting an almost completely new coaching staff. Despite this, the boys managed to build a stronger connection with each other as a team. Dennis, a social studies teacher at NUHS, wants his players to be a team on and off the court, B, C, or Varsity. He is ready to keep up working hard for NUHS boys. “I hope our players learn to believe in themselves in what they do. I hope they understand that preparation is critical for success. I hope they learned that high school sports [is] about more than just games and practices; its about life preparation. I hope people feel that good things are coming for New Ulm boys basketball.” 

He feels there is more to sports than just playing the game and winning. Even losing a section game, there are still positives to the season. Dennis said this about highlights of the season: “The highlights have been definitely meeting the boys and building relationships. This is the main reason you get into coaching. I have loved seeing improvement throughout the year. Our wins against Worthington and Belle Plaine were great team wins and showed so much improvement. Our other games that highlighted improvement were our games against Fairmont and our second game against Blue Earth.” Dennis has a positive outlook from the season despite losing. 

Top scorers from the game were New Ulm’s Reece Melby (19) and East’s BJ Omet (18). Melby became New Ulm High School Boys’ basketball all-time scorer and this came through in the game against East with the most points in the game.

Dennis has this to say to the team’s fans, parents, and supporters: “I would like to thank all of the fans for coming out and supporting us this season. We loved playing at home in front of the Squadron!  It was so awesome to know that the school is behind us. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for us in basketball and beyond.”

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