Interior defense carries Oak Ridge boys past Crusaders

~ Oak Ridge downed Saxony Lutheran 63-46 on Friday

Oak Ridge's defense stole the show Friday.

The Blue Jays leaned on their superior height to swat away any Saxony Lutheran shots in the lane. The result was a 63-46 victory for the visiting Oak Ridge boys basketball team.

"These guys have been beating us and beating us and beating us all these years," Oak Ridge guard Caleb Elam said of the Crusaders. "We wanted to put pressure on them and hurt them good."

The Crusaders, whose tallest player is 6 foot 1, were forced to shoot from the outside to avoid the Blue Jays' interior defense. Oak Ridge features six players on its roster that are at least 6-1.

"We're not big enough to score inside because everybody we play is going to be bigger," Saxony Lutheran coach Sam Sides said. "We hit some [3-pointers] tonight. That's the most we've had all year. That's what kept us in the game early -- we knocked down some shots. We got the ball inside some and it got knocked down our throats."

The Crusaders connected on 4 of their 6 attempts from long range in the first quarter and enjoyed a 15-11 lead after the opening period. But the Blue Jays refused to be intimidated by the Crusaders' early hot shooting.

"They wouldn't keep making 3s the whole game," Oak Ridge senior Garret Light said. "They made a bunch. We just knew we had to keep playing our defense and they'd start missing some shots."

The Crusaders only hit 24 percent (4 of 17) of their 3-pointers after the first quarter.

Oak Ridge flashed increased intensity to open the second half. The Blue Jays slapped on a press, which helped lead to eight Saxony Lutheran turnovers in the third quarter.

"It's probably the best defense we've played all year so far," Elam said.

"They just came out and were more aggressive on us," Sides said. "With their size and strength, we're just not very strong. It gave us a little fit."

Oak Ridge coach Adam Stoneking said the key to his team's defense was figuring out its rotations to cover Saxony Lutheran's 3-point shooters. Once it did that, his team's defense slammed the door.

"Once we figured out the rotation, it was a little bit easier," Stoneking said. "Our guys work hard and we work on defense all the time. We work on it more than just about anything else."

The Blue Jays gained control in the second quarter when they hit 7 of their 15 shots from the field (47 percent). Junior Brett Thomas tossed in 11 points in the quarter.

Saxony Lutheran (2-3) refused to go quietly and cut the Blue Jays' lead to four points entering the fourth quarter. The Crusaders ended the third quarter on a 6-1 run.

But Saxony Lutheran's shooting turned frigid while the Blue Jays cranked up the heat in the fourth quarter to end the suspense. Oak Ridge went on an 18-3 run to start the fourth quarter, including eight points from Elam during the stretch, and never looked back.

"We kind of switched up our zone offense a little bit this week starting with the Delta game on Tuesday," Stoneking said. "We moved Garret and Brett almost exclusively where they can kind of float in and out. That seemed to work for us."

Oak Ridge 11 19 9 24 -- 63

Saxony 15 9 11 11 -- 46

OAK RIDGE (63) -- Caleb Elam 15, Lucas Rohde 2, Jacob Light 6, Garret Light 16, Hunter Metje 2, Brett Thomas 18, Logan Mangels 4. FG 26, FT 6-15, F 11. (3-pointers: Elam 3, Thomas 2. Fouled out: none)

SAXONY LUTHERAN (46) -- Brayton Klaus 13, Trevor Mabuce 9, Kris Cook 9, Clayton Carver 3, Chris Roth 10, Matt Wills 2. FG 17, FT 4-8, F 16. (3-pointers: Klaus 2, Mabuce 2, Cook 1, Carver 1, Roth 2. Fouled out: none)