Hartmann's sharp shooting continues Crusaders' winning streak

The Saxony Lutheran boys’ basketball team closed out the home slate of their schedule with a 73-45 win over Chaffee on Thursday in Saxony Lutheran High School.

The Crusaders opened the game against the Red Devils on a 10-0 run, leading to a 19-11 first-quarter lead. Much of the Crusaders’ hot start came from the sharp shooting of junior Jonathan Hartmann, who made three baskets from the three-point line and scored 11 of his team-leading 23 points in the opening period.

“John is our best three-point shooter,” Saxony Lutheran head coach Justin Callahan said. “He struggled early in the season but recently he’s just been on fire. He's been on a tear really in the last few games. Every game he's come out and hit two or three, in the first half.”

Callahan said Hartman has earned the “green light” to shoot at will throughout the game. The only exception is when the Crusaders are up by 25 points or more with four minutes remaining but it is only out of respect for the opposing team.

“He kind of earned that as we went through the season just to practice, just continue to put the time in and keep working at it,” Callahan said. “So we're now told him that if he has an open shot, he needs to take it and he's been doing that he's been knocking down consistently it's been a big boost for us.”

Callahan said a player earned the green light after accomplishing a drill in practice.

“For a kid to earn that right he has to meet a minimum number of standards six days in a row and a shooting drill,” Callahan said. “It is very difficult to do that. You have to be a really, really good shooter. He did his six in a row, so he earned it and they all had that opportunity, and he's the only one that was successful at it for those six days in a row. Once he did that, I have to be a man of my word.”

“It was really stressful because no one had it for a couple of years,” Hartman said.

Hartman has been leading the Crusaders in scoring lately. He recently scored 24 points against St. Paul Lutheran on Feb. 3. He also scored 19 points against Kelly on Jan. 24.

“I've always been pretty decent at it, but I've started to refine my shooting over the years,” Hartmann said. “I'm starting to make them more consistently, just starting to expect it to go in.”

The Crusaders went the entire game without trailing the Red Devils. Max Richey scored 14 points and Luke Eggemeyer scored 16 points for the Crusaders. Much of their damage was done in the middle of the game, helping Saxony Lutheran score 21 points in the second quarter and 23 in the third quarter to put the game to bed.

The Crusaders have now won nine straight games and are 12-3 since the Valle Christmas Tournament.

“I think we're just playing well as a team,” Hartmann said. “You got a good team atmosphere and we're just trusting each other to make shots and play well.”

The Crusaders started the season 2-6 including a loss to St. Vincent in the opening round of that tournament.

“It was a little slow,” Hartmann said. “It's just trying to get the guys involved and get them mentally focused on playing basketball and getting everything worked out.”

The Crusaders (14-8) will try to extend their winning streak to 10 on Friday at Oak Ridge. They will close out the regular season on Feb. 15 at St. Vincent, looking to avenge their Christmas tournament loss against the Indians.

Levi McKinnie led the Red Devils with 12 points. Chaffee (9-14) travels to Woodland on Monday in a Class 3 District 2 Tournament preview.

Saxony Lutheran hosts the district tournament and will face Scott City in the opening round on Feb. 20. Chaffee will face Woodland that same day, which opens up the potential for the Red Devils and Crusaders to meet again in the tournament.