MANKATO — Last season they were one win away from winning this tournament.
Now, after a dominating second half showing No. 8 Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton brought home the 2025 Kwik Trip Holiday Tournament title, knocking off Maple River 68-46 in Monday’s title game at Bethany Lutheran College.
“It feels great,” senior Dalton Bauer said. “We’ve been in this environment before. We knew what it was like.”
The Bulldogs carried a 23-22 lead into halftime and saw the Eagle even everything out at 28 early in the second half. Then sophomore Gavin Bauer, who led JWP with 18 points on the night, connected from 3-point range.
In the moment it was a simple 3-point shot for a 31-28 lead. In reality, it flipped the switch for a 12-2 run, forcing Maple River to call timeout with 11:27 to go with the Bulldogs suddenly leading 40-30.
The Eagles couldn’t find room to spread their wings. They got to within seven shortly after the timeout, but JWP proved to be too much, pulling away in the game’s final 10 minutes to bring home the title.
“Our defense did a nice job in the second half,” Bulldogs coach Nick James said. “We held them to 46 (points). That’s big for us. Those guys are good too. We knew they were going to be tough.”
Dalton Bauer had 15 points for JWP. Gavin Weedman tallied 12 points.
Maple River was led by 18 points from Emery Stevens. Cole Davis added 13 points.
The Bulldogs (10-0) return to action at 1 p.m. Saturday to host Springfield.
“We’ve been playing pretty well lately,” Dalton Bauer said. “We can definitely play better though. We have some good games coming up. We’ll see what the rest of the season brings.”
Third-place game
New Ulm 64 Minnesota Valley Lutheran 63
New Ulm saw Mitchell Hopp lead all players with 20 points. Noah Mertz had 10 points.
MVL was led by Pierson Brau’s 19 points. Blake Sexton added 17 and Owen Birkholz had 10 points.
Fifth-place game
Fairmont 57 Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial 54
Logan Junkermeier led the 2024 tournament champions with 14 points. Reed Johnson had 10 points.
LCWM was led by 14 points from Brayden Mathews. Carter Lowis earned 14 points and Colton Buss tallied 13 points.
Seventh-place game
St. Clair 70 Mankato Loyola 55
Austin Ward led all players with 25 points in the Cyclones’ win. Carson Preston and Hunter Winkler each added 10 points.
Christian Barker had 15 points for the Crusaders. TJ O’Malley had 13 points.