Charleston boys basketball team rallies to defeat Saxony Lutheran in district final

Of course Danny Farmer was slightly concerned when his team was down 19 points early in the second quarter of the Class 3 District 2 championship, but the Charleston boys basketball coach had faith that his team would keep its composure and stick with the team's strategy.

The top-seeded Bluejays did just that as they came back to knock off No. 2 Saxony Lutheran 59-54 and claimed its sixth straight district title at Scott City High School on Thursday night.

"We showed a lot of character. We've been working in all kind of dogfights, and in the end we feel it paid off for us," Farmer said. "We didn't give up when they were going -- we just kept playing, stuck to our game plan. Our game plan was to play the duration of the game with that high intensity, and then in the end we figured it'd come out in our way."

The Crusaders jumped out to a 19-5 lead after one quarter, limiting Charleston to 2 of 13 shooting in the first eight minutes.

Saxony scored the first five points of the second and took a 24-5 lead with 7:22 remaining in the half on a William Rogers 3-pointer for its largest lead of the game. Charleston trimmed it to 33-23 by halftime.

Saxony Lutheran's Nathan Ruark looks to pass around Charleston's Ke'Sean Griffin in the second quarter during the Class 3 District 2 championship game Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016 at Scott City High School.Glenn Landberg

The Bluejays got within six points 44 seconds into the third with a couple of jumpers by Jeremy Tucker.

A triple by Jalen Williams with 4:07 left in the quarter pushed Saxony's advantage to 40-31, but it would never create any more separation.

Demarcus Sharp hit his only basket of the game a minute later, and a Kelvondre Moore 3 pulled the Bluejays within 40-37. They trailed 44-41 heading into the final quarter.

"That's a tough one to play so well in the first half and then kind of get away from what we were doing. That hurt us," Saxony coach Kevin Williams said. "We moved the ball and we cut and we didn't stand and we were efficient. We just countered their pressure early in the game, and then I guess we either got tired or thought it was going to be easy from that point on and we didn't continue to do that. When you do that against that basketball team, they just keep coming at you and coming at you and coming at you."

Tennerrious Ewing scored to start the fourth, and Moore gave Charleston its first lead since the game's opening minute on a 3-pointer with 6:30 remaining in the game.

Saxony went ahead 47-46 seconds later, then Mardareyon Clark split a pair of free throws to tie the game, and Tucker collected the rebound off the miss and scored to put Charleston ahead for good.

Corie Williams, who finished with 11 points, answered with a layup on the other end, but it was negated with a charge -- his fifth foul. Jalen Williams, who scored eight points, fouled out on the Bluejays' next possession. Both players were on the bench for much of the third quarter after picking up their fourth fouls midway through the period.

"You take two of my leading scorers out of the game, two of my better ball handlers out of the game -- and I didn't really feel like we were the more physical of the two teams on the court," Coach Williams said. "It wasn't the officiating that beat us, but in that kind of game we lose two guys like that -- good call or bad call, whatever -- if you lose them it's going to be noticeable, and it was."

Charleston pushed its lead to as much as seven before a layup by Graesen Meystedt and a 3 by Karsten Short pulled Saxony within 55-52 with 35 seconds remaining.

After Tucker split a pair of free throws, Meystedt scored in transition to cut it to two with 23 seconds left, but the Bluejays sank 3 of 4 free throws to close out the win.

"The first half when we had advantages or angles, we attacked," Williams said. "Second half it was like, 'Well, if I attack and don't make it, then we're not going to win,' and that's the exact opposite of the way you've got to play. Some of that's immaturity. Some of that's the fact that some of these kids are playing out here under these bright lights and they're sophomores and juniors and they've never really been in the this situation before."

Dontarius Sharp had 15 points to pace the Bluejays, including 8 of 10 from the free-throw line in the second half.

Rogers finished with a game-high 19 points -- 14 of which came in the first half.

Moore finished with 14 points for Charleston and made 4 of 6 3-point attempts in the contest.

"He played well in this tournament, the last game he played well," Farmer said. "He's a senior and he showed a lot of great leadership. He also guarded No. 2 on their team, Rogers, and he done a super job on Rogers."

Charleston improved to 20-9 with the victory and will face Caruthersville in a Class 3 sectional at 7:45 p.m. Wednesday.

"We've come a long way from the beginning of the season," Farmer said. "My God, we are a different team right now from the beginning of the season. No one would have ever thought that we would be right here now. But I think it's because every night we go out and have to play tough people. You know how those SEMO conference games are -- any night anybody can win -- so we're accustomed to tough, tough competition."

Saxony concluded its first season under Williams with a record of 24-5.

"These kids, I asked them in the locker room, 'Who's ready to start working for next year?' and every single one of them raised their hand," Williams said. "When you've got that kind of determination and fire -- I'd hate to see these kids next season [as an opponent]."

Saxony 19 14 11 0 -- 54

Charleston 5 18 18 18 -- 59

SAXONY LUTHERAN (54) -- William Rogers 19, Corie Williams 11, Jalen Williams 8, Paris Johnson 2, Karsten Short 6, Graesen Meystedt 8. FG 22-52, FT 3-10. (3-pointers: Rogers 3, J. Williams 2, Short 2. Fouled out: J. Williams, C. Williams, Short.)

CHARLESTON (59) -- Dontarius Sharp 15, Kelvondre Moore 14, Demarcus Sharp 3, Mardareyon Clark 9, Jeremy Tucker 11, Tenebrious Ewing 3, Jaqueles Biles 2. FG 16-48, FT 20-28. (3-pointers: Do. Sharp 2, Moore 4, De. Sharp. Fouled out: De. Sharp.)