GOING UP — Truman/Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley-East Chain’s Cael Jaskulke (13) takes the basketball to the rim against Nicollet’s Colton Thomsen (2) during Valley Conference action Friday night in Truman. (Photo courtesy of Susan Petrowiak)

TRUMAN — After his first game as a varsity head coach, Tyler Bovy walked off the floor with a win.

Bovy took over for Truman/Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley-East Chain head coach Adam Walker because Walker had a COVID-19 close contact and could not coach the Jaguars in their Valley Conference basketball game against the Nicollet Raiders. Bovy coached the Jaguars to a 52-40 win Friday night in Truman.

The Jaguars built a 10-point lead with 5 minutes remaining, but the Raiders worked their way back into the game.

Adam Heckman broke down the floor with five minutes remaining and collected a pass from Matt Heckman to beat the Raiders’ full-court press for a layup to put the Jaguars up 41-31 and notch Adam Heckman’s 1,000th career point.

“It was a great accomplishment for him,” Bovy said. “I’ve been coaching him since fourth grade, so it’s great to see him move all the way up to now being a junior and scoring 1,000 points. It’s a pretty cool thing.”

Colton Thomsen and Shane Stevensen then scored 11 of the next 13 points in the game to bring the Raiders within 43-30 after a pause in the game to celebrate Adam Heckman’s achievement.

Jakob Fischer then assisted Adam Heckman for a layup after Fischer spun past his defender toward the free throw line and sent a pass into the post.

The Raiders were then called for a foul and a technical foul, sending two Jaguars to the line for a one-and-one and two free throws for the technical. Cael Jaskulke hit one of the two attempts for the technical to put the Jaguars up 46-40, then Adam Heckman assisted Jaskulke for a post layup to extend the Jaguar lead to eight.

Fischer then stole a pass before Matt Heckman hit a layup, then Fischer hit two of four free throws in the final minute to close the game.

The team’s fought to a 20-19 Jaguar lead at the halftime break, with Adam Heckman nearing a first-half double double with eight points and eight rebounds at the break.

“The first half, we played pretty well,” Bovy said. “We manhandled them on the offensive rebounds in the first half, but we didn’t finish. In the second half, we got out to a 10-point lead and kind of coasted.

“We struggled a little against the press, … but we managed to fight through it and get a couple of open layups to pretty much seal the game.”

Adam Heckman led the Jaguars with a double-double performance of 17 points and 15 rebounds, while shooting 8-for-12 and adding four steals.

Owen Wolter scored nine points for the Jaguars to complement four assists and a game-high five steals, while Fischer scored 12 points, brought down six rebounds and dished out four assists.

Jaskulke scored eight points and brought down four caroms, while Matt Heckman assisted his teammates a game-high five times to complement six points.

Stevensen led the Raiders with 16 points and neared a double-double with nine rebounds, while Thomsen scored 10 points and brought down five caroms.

The Jaguars (9-4) travel to Madelia for a Valley Conference matchup at 7:15 p.m. Monday, while Nicollet (6-7) go to Lake Crystal to face Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial on Monday night.

Nicollet 19-21–40

TMLGHEC 20-32–52

TMLGHEC (52)

A. Heckman 8-12 1-2 17, Fischer 3-10 5-7 12, Wolter 4-9 0-1 9, Jaskulke 3-9 1-2 8, M. Heckman 3-12 0-1 6, Moeller 0-2 0-0 0, Kube 0-1 0-0 0. Totals:21-55 7-13 52.

NICOLLET (40)

Stevenson 6-15 2-3 16, Thomsen 4-8 2-2 10, Bode 2-8 1-2 6, Mans 1-3 0-0 3, Grommersch 1-4 0-0 3, Willaert 1-4 0-0 2, Laven 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 15-43 5-7 40.

3-pointers: TMLGHEC 3-17; Nicollet 5-21. Fouled out: none. Rebounds: TMLGHEC 31 (A. Heckman 15, Fischer 6, Jaskulke 4); Nicollet 29 (Stevensen 9, Thomsen 5, Mans 4). Assists: TMLGHEC 15 (M.Heckman 5, Wolter & Fischer 4 each); Nicollet (Thomsen & Stevensen 3 each). Steals: TMLGHEC 14 (Wolter 5, A. Heckman 4); Nicollet 8 (Bode 3). Blocks: TMLGHEC 2; Nicollet 3.

Martin County West 50, Madelia 47 — Zach Anderson neared a double-double with 18 points, eight rebounds, five assists and four steals to lead the Mavericks past the Blackhawks during Valley Conference action Friday night in Madelia.

Mitch Weber scored 13 points, all coming in the first half, to complement four assists, while Tanner Sinn added nine points and seven boards for the Mavericks. Christian Bachenberg contributed seven points to the Mavericks’ winning ways.

Ja’Sean Glover scored 24 points to lead the Blackhawks.

MCW shot 13-for-26 from 2-point range, while hitting 7 of 17 from the 3-point arc and making 3 of 6 free throws.

Madelia hit 11 out of 19 attempts from within the arc and made 6 of 21 from beyond it. The Blackhawks made 7 of 11 tries from the charity stripe.

MCW outrebounded Madelia 22-21 in the matchup.

The Mavericks (6-7) go to Blue Earth to face Blue Earth Area in a nonconference matchup at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

MCW 29-21–50

MAD 22-25–47