Hayfield's Trevor Anderson is fouled by Blooming Prairie's Collin Yankoviak on a layup attempt in the first half Tuesday night in Hayfield. -- Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com

HAYFIELD — The Vikings boys basketball team didn’t play their best game on Tuesday, but it was enough to edge out the Awesome Blossoms 61-50 in Hayfield Tuesday.

Hayfield (4-1 overall) never trailed throughout the night, but it couldn’t pull away either.

“We missed a lot of shots that we should’ve made,” said Hayfield junior point guard Cole Kruger, who finished with 14 points, 10 rebounds and four assists.

Blooming Prairie's Jim Mans goes high to try and block a shot by Hayfield's Jeremy Stuart during the first half Tuesday night in Hayfield.

After falling behind 19-8 to start the game, BP (2-4 overall) hung around. John Rumpza scored on a put-back to make it 30-23 late in the first half and he drilled a second half three that made it 44-36 with 9:02 left in the game.

Rumpza, a sophomore, finished with 26 points on 9-of-14 shooting with 13 rebounds, and assists for BP.

“Rumpza played a great game. He’s a tough matchup,” Hayfield head coach Chris Pack said. “The good thing was we got a big lead early and it never got too close. We always kept enough distance and made enough plays. An ugly win is better than an ugly loss.”

While Rumpza had his way, the Vikings held BP’s other go-to scorer in check. Michael Thomas, who is 6-5, scored 11, but had just two points in the first half as Brady Kramer, who is 6-1, locked him down.

“Thomas is a good player, you’ve just got to stay low, move your feet and not fall for any of his fakes,” said Kramer, who had 10 points, eight rebounds and four steals.

BP was coming off a 76-53 loss to Southland last Friday and the Blossoms have played five of their first six games on the road.

BP head coach John Bruns is hoping his team will learn from the tough part of the schedule it just played through.

Hayfield's Brady Stevens gets an easy two during the first half against Blooming Prairie in Hayfield Tuesday night.

“We definitely played better than we did last week. We were scrappy, we got on the floor and we played defense. It was a step in the right direction,” Bruns said. “Everybody (besides Thomas and Rumpza) is getting their first varsity action. We’re kind of putting everybody together and we’re trying to find our identity on offense and defense.”

Hayfield received a boost from one of its new starters as junior Jeremy Stuart poured in 16 points to go with seven rebounds. Hayfield senior guard Trevor Anderson also hit some big shots as he scored 12 points.

Kramer, who has been on varsity since he was a freshman, said those two give Hayfield some much needed balance.

“Jeremy’s a big help and he’s getting a lot more minutes,” Kramer said. “With Trevor and him we have a well rounded team and we should be pretty good by the end of the year.”

Hayfield 30 31 — 61

BP 23 27 — 50

Hayfield scoring: Jeremy Stuart, 16; Cole Kruger, 14; Trevor Anderson, 12; Brady Kramer, 10; Drew Streightiff, 5; Brady Stevens, 4; field goals: (23-for-50); three-pointers: 25 percent (4-for-16); free throws: 30 percent (3-for-10); rebounds: 34 (Kruger, 10); turnovers: 12

BP scoring: John Rumpza, 26; Michael Thomas, 11; Jimmy Mans, 6; Collin Yankoviak, 3; Weston Fiebiger, 2; Anthony Nelson, 2; field goals: 41 percent (20-for-48); three-pointers: 36 percent (4-for-11); free throws: 54 percent (6-for-11)