Rocky first-half plagues Saxony Lutheran in loss to Jefferson

The Jefferson Blue Jays put their 11-game winning streak on the line on Tuesday when they battled the Saxony Lutheran Crusaders.

In the end, it was the Blue Jays walking away with a 60-54 win over the Crusaders.

“You just have to make shots,” Crusaders coach Justin Callahan said. “We’re losing games because we don’t make shots.”

Following a solid start to the game that saw the Crusaders jump out to an 6-2 lead, the Blue Jays ended up taking a 15-8 lead after the opening quarter.

“Shots weren’t falling and we started fumbling the ball,” Callahan said. “You have to give Jefferson credit. They’re a really good team. We beat them earlier in the year so we’re pretty evenly matched, they just played a little bit better than us.”

Perhaps the issue that plagued the Crusaders the most were the turnovers that were quickly leading to buckets for the Blue Jays.

The turnover problems continued into the second quarter for the Crusaders as they continued to let Jefferson score at ease and the Blue Jays managed to take a 31-19 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The Crusaders were trailing by as many as 15 in the third quarter and with just over three minutes remaining in the third quarter, they had got the lead to 7, giving them life.

Jefferson was able to briefly balloon the lead back to 11, but the Crusaders rebounded as they trailed 44-35 after three quarters.

Despite having multiple opportunities to climb back into the game, the closest Saxony Lutheran would get in the fourth quarter was five, as the Blue Jays held on for the win.

“We hit a couple shots and started gaining some confidence,” Callahan said. “We started playing our man-to-man decently as well.”

Leading the Crusaders was Luke Eggemeyer who scored 21 points in the loss for the Crusaders.

Also contributing were John Hartmann with 17 points, Owen Bucheit with 12 points, Wesley Kiehne with 3 points and Blake Gaebler with 1 point.

Saxony Lutheran (15-8) looks to bounce back at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 8, when the Crusaders hit the road to take on Chaffee at Chaffee High School.