Saxony falls to 2023 Class 4 runner-up, Park Hills Central

Despite seniors John Hartmann and Luke Eggemeyer combining for 44 points, the Saxony Lutheran Crusaders fell to the Park Hills Central Rebels 71-63. The Class 3 Crusaders held their own for the first three quarters, but in the final leg of the game Rebels senior Jobe Bryant took over, exploding for 12 points in the fourth.

The game got off to a 4-4 start before the Rebels scored eight in a row and forced Saxony into a timeout. After the timeout, the Crusaders went on a run of their own and closed the gap to four at 18-14 after the first quarter.

In the second quarter, the John Hartmann show started as the senior went off for four threes and three rim-shaking slam dunks. Crusaders head coach Justin Callahan said Hartmann clearly came to the game prepared to play.

Hartmann singlehandedly brought the Crusaders the 35-33 lead as they headed to the halftime break. The third quarter started with a 7-2 run by Saxony before the Rebels used a timeout and went on their own 12-2 run and forced the Crusaders into a timeout, Park Hills led 48-46 after three.

Saxony was never able to come back from the two-point deficit and the foul game at the end caused the lead to grow as the Rebels managed to get the eight-point win.

Callahan said the kids played hard against a tough team and a few tweaks could have led to a different result.

“For the most part, I think we played pretty well. In a 32-minute game, you go down and you look at each possession and just the little things that make you say, ‘if’ like we missed a layup right before half,” Callahan said. “Up two, we set up a play from out of bounds and we executed it perfectly but we missed the lay-up. That would have put us up four and with a lot more momentum, so we go in kind of deflated. I felt like we had a legit chance.”

The Crusaders will next compete in the Valle Christmas Tournament beginning on Tuesday.