C3D2: Charleston claims district title with win over Saxony Lutheran

The Charleston Blue Jays were able to overcome a hot start offensively by the Saxony Lutheran Crusaders to win the Class 3 District 2 championship 76-57 on Friday at Saxony Lutheran High School.

The Crusaders came out of the gates hot from the field but held just a 15-14 lead after the first quarter.

“I thought we played well,” Blue Jays coach Jamarcus Williams said. “It was a bit of a gritty win.”

Charleston quickly took back control of the game, winning the second quarter 26-17 to lead off 40-32 as the teams entered the locker room at halftime.

“We just stuck to the game plan,” Williams said. “We’ve been in some battles before and played against some teams who shoot it well. We’ve been watching film on (Saxony) and we knew they were gonna make some shots.”

The Crusaders would never be able to get back into the game following the halftime deficit and coach Justin Callahan points to the end of the second quarter as the demise of the Crusaders.

“We missed an uncontested layup,” Callahan said. “Then, we had a rebound on defense and we fumbled it and then the next trip we had an errant pass and just like that it was an 8-point game.”

Charleston would lead 58-44 after the third quarter before winning 76-57.

“We trust our defense enough to get stops down the stretch to gain some separation,” Williams said.

Leading the way for Charleston was Almareion Williams with 23 points in the win. Fletravion Stanback had 15 points, PJ Farmer had 15 points, Rico Coleman had 10 points, Ko’Terrion Owens had 8 points and Rommie Turner had 5 points.

Luke Eggemeyer led the way for the Crusaders with 18 points. John Hartmann had 13 points, Aaron Zoellner had 10 points, Landon Ochs had 6 points, Wesley Kiehne had 4 points and Max Richey and Owen Buchheit had 3 points.

Coming into the matchup Saxony Lutheran had won 14 straight games, tying a school record. They finished the season with a record of 19-9.

“I couldn’t be more proud of our kids,” Callahan said. “The reality right now is Charleston is a better basketball team over four quarters. We knew we were going to have to play exceptionally to beat them.”

Charleston (22-6) will take on New Madrid County Central at 7:45 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 27 at Bloomfield High School.