Crusaders among Hoopfest winners

Saxony Lutheran maintained its momentum from an upset victory earlier in the week and defeated Chester, Ill., 54-31 on Saturday in the Heartland Hoopfest in Perryville.

The win was one of four posted by local schools in the all-day event at the Perryville Civic Center.

Central, Jackson and St. Vincent also claimed victories.

The Crusaders were playing their first game since upending Jackson 56-52 on the road Thursday.

"I was kind of concerned after having an emotional high like that, and I didn't know how we'd play," said Saxony first-year coach Sam Sides. "I thought we used a lot energy on Thursday, and Friday we backed off in practice and basically just shot. Today I thought we came out hard."

Saxony (4-1) stormed out to a 24-5 lead by the close of the first quarter against Chester (1-6) and led 30-13 at halftime.

Bryant Steffens led eight Crusaders in the scoring column with 16 points. Chris Roth added 11 points.

The game lacked the drama of Thursday's victory at Jackson, where Sides had spent much of his coaching career. He ended a stint as Jackson girls basketball coach last winter.

"It meant a lot to me go in there and compete the way we did," Sides said. "I didn't know what to expect. Obviously we competed well, and we got the win. It was kind of a double bonus."

Sides said a 57-43 loss to Bernie the previous week helped instill confidence in his team. The Crusaders trailed just 36-34 entering the fourth quarter of that game.

"I thought after we competed with Bernie last week, we could compete with anybody," Sides said.

@z_agate_HSbasketball_linescore:Saxony Lutheran 54, Chester 31

Chester58414-- 31

Saxony2461410-- 54

@z_agate_no tab_no indnt_bld ld:Chester (31) -- Winters 8, Lawrence 9, Lutz 2, Wallace 6, Stevens 6. FG 13, FT 4-7, F 21. (3-pointers: Winters 1, Lawrence 1. Fouled out: Lutz)

Saxony Lutheran (54) -- Brayton Klaus 3, Trevor Mabuce 7, Kris Cook 2, Chris Roth 11, Shawn Hadler 2, Bret Steffens 9, Bryant Steffens 16, Garrett Fritsche 4. FG 18, FT 12-27, F 12. (3 pointers: Bryant Steffens 3, Roth 1, Mabuce 1. Fouled out: none)

Jackson 58, Whitfield 51

Jackson returned to the win column after a difficult loss Thursday.

The Indians used a balanced attack as Kyle Keith, Andrew Shrum and Zach McDowell each netted 11 points. Marcus Harris added nine points and Lucas Davis finished with eight.

The Indians led 32-22 at halftime on their way to evening their season mark at 2-2.

"We played a lot better," Jackson coach Darrin Scott said. "There were some good things, and hopefully we can build off that and be playing well going into the (Southeast Missourian) Christmas tournament."

@z_agate_HSbasketball_linescore:

Whitfield11111415--51

Jackson15171115--58

@z_agate_no tab_no indnt_bld ld:Whitfield (51) -- Harris 11, Burns 13, Johnson 11, Gallagher 3, Ellis 13. FG 21, FT 7-18, F 20. (3-pointers: Harris 1, Gallagher 1. Fouled out: Wuestner)

Jackson (58) -- Marcus Harris 9, Kyle Keith 11, Cody Green 2, Andrew Shrum 11, Lucas Davis 8, Zach McDowell 11, Eli Gohn 6. FG 22, FT 11-16, F 11. (3-pointers: Keith 3. Fouled out: none)

St. Vincent 50, Oak Ridge 39

The Indians pulled away late in just their second game of the year and improved to 2-0.

St. Vincent took a 37-34 lead into the fourth quarter and then held the Blue Jays to one field goal and five points over the final eight minutes.

"We did a good job shutting them down defensively when had to," St. Vincent coach Bruce Valleroy said. "We pulled the ball out a little bit and made them foul us."

Kyle Rollet paced St. Vincent with 13 points, Justin L'Hote had 12 points and Joel Fischer finished with 10.

The Indians had games against North County and Leopold canceled due to snow this past week after opening the season with an overtime win against Kelly on Dec. 12.

@z_agate_HSbasketball_linescore:

Oak Ridge1310115--39

St. Vincent12111413--50

@z_agate_no tab_no indnt_bld ld:Oak Ridge (39) -- Garret Light 18, Brett Thomas 8, Caleb Elam 5, Logan Mangels 4, Stephen Wright 4. FG 12, FT 12-18, F 18. (3-pointers: Elam 1, Light 1, Mangels 1. Fouled out: Light)

St. Vincent (50) -- Kyle Rollet 13, Justin L'Hote 12, Joel Fischer 10, Dylan Gerringer 8, Shawn Renner 5, Brock French 2. FG 18, FT 12-18, F 15. (3-pointers: L'Hote 1, Renner 1. Fouled out: none)

Central 52, Perryville 47

The Tigers broke a fourth-quarter tie on their way to improving to 3-4.

The Tigers held a 32-19 lead at halftime, but the Pirates outscored Central 17-4 in the third quarter to pull even at 36-36.

"We had them down big early, and the third quarter we kind of got away from what was helping us," Central coach Drew Church said. "Defensively, we didn't get on their shooters."

Led by Wade Leible, who finished with four 3-pointers and a game-high 18 points, the Pirates heated up from 3-point range in the third quarter.

However, the Tigers outscored the Pirates 16-11 in the fourth quarter, hitting their free throws down the stretch.

Central's Zach Boerboom and Kevin Casasola each had 12 points, while Blake Ozbun finished with 10.

Tyson Brown added 11 points for Perryville.

@z_agate_HSbasketball_linescore:

Perryville1181711--47

Central1616416--52

@z_agate_no tab_no indnt_bld ld:Perryville (47) -- Andrew Martin 6, Ben Prevallet 3, Michael Bachmann 2, Aaron Grebing 2, Brent Roth 5, Wade Leible 18, Tyson Brown 11. FG 18, FT 6-15, F 22. (3-pointers: Prevallet 1, Leible 4. Fouled out: Prevallet, Brown)

Central (52) -- Blake Ozbun 10, Terrance Howard 2, Andrew Williams 9, Josh Harris 3, Kevin Casasola 12, Rick Russell 4, Zach Boerboom 12. FG 14, FT 22-35, F 12. (3-pointers: Ozbun 2. Fouled out: none)