Saxony Lutheran scrapped Scott City 53-25 at home on Thursday to extend its winning streak to five games.
The Crusaders led the game from the opening tip, working the Rams defensively in a 2-3 zone. Saxony Lutheran's longer post players limited the Rams to just a single shot during numerous possessions.
Senior forward Aaron Zoellner led the Crusaders' offense on the inside with eight first-quarter points to give them a 21-11 lead at the end of the opening period.
The Rams were only able to score one lone point in the entire second quarter but managed to hold the Crusaders seven, trailing Saxony Lutheran 28-12 entering halftime.
Saxony Lutheran coach Justin Callahan inserted a full-court trapping press to start the third quarter that saw Scott City turn the ball over numerous times. The quick hands of Max Richey, who worked at the head of the press, was able to steal the ball and was able to find open teammates in transition which led to several uncontested buckets.
Leading 41-20 heading to the final quarter, the Crusaders eased back on the pressure defense, returning to their disruptive 2-3 half-court zone. They outscored the Rams 23-13 in the second half to put Scott City away.
“We started the game out defensively man-to-man as we’ve been doing recently,” Callahan said. “(Brendan) Beussink did a good job of breaking us down, kicking it out to open shooters there at the beginning so we tried the extended 2-3 zone and that seemed to stop their outside shooters so we stuck with that for much of the rest of the game.”
Richey didn't lead the Crusaders in scoring but managed five points and led the team in the hustle.
“He never comes out,” Callahan said with a chuckle. “He plays every second of every game and never complains about it. He’s our point guard and if you’d take Max out of our lineup we would definitely be hurting. I have encouraged him to score more but as a true point guard, he wants to get his teammates involved. But don’t let him fool you, Richey can score the basketball.”
Senior Aaron Zoellner notched a game-high 14 points while Luke Eggemeyer added 12 points to lead Saxony Lutheran to its 10th victory of the season. Jonathan Hartmann added nine points, Owen Buchheit scored seven points and Landon Ochs contributed six points in the win.
Scott City, who has dropped four out of its last five games, was paced offensively by sophomore Jaylen Rulo who notched a team-high seven points followed by Beussink who scored six points, and Colin Blaylock, Luke Umfleet, Torrin Johnson, and Jackson Gloth who each scored three points.
“I feel like we’re starting to hit our stride,” Callahan said. “We’ve struggled out the gate with kids being injured or sick and that hasn't helped us but I feel like we’re starting to get things down on both ends of the court and we’re nearly completely healthy so I feel we’re almost there.”
Saxony Lutheran (10-8) will look to take the momentum into its next contest tonight as they travel to Doniphan (13-5) to take on the Dons at 7:30 p.m.
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