Saxony Lutheran boys basketball team wins first district title

~ Crusaders defeat Puxico 66-52 in title game.

CHAFFEE -- Puxico took its first lead in the closing seconds of the first quarter.

Saxony Lutheran junior Bret Steffens ensured the Indians' lone lead was short-lived.

Steffens heaved a shot from just over half court that swished through the net as the buzzer sounded to give his team a 13-12 lead after the first quarter.

The Crusaders didn't trail again as they won their first district championship, beating Puxico 66-52 in their Class 2 District 3 title game Thursday.

Saxony's Max Wieser goes up for a lay up during the Class 2 District 3 championship game against Puxico on Thursday, February 28, 2008. (Aaron Eisenhauer)

"You have to come back from it," Puxico coach Josh Dowdy said of Steffens' shot. "I don't think it affected us, but yeah, it's a momentum changer."

The half-court heave epitomized Steffens' first quarter, as he went 4-of-4 for nine points in the first quarter.

"I felt good," Steffens said. "We practiced all year for this moment. We just had to trust what we did."

Dowdy said his team tried to focus its defensive efforts on slowing down Steffens, which it did over the final three quarters. He was limited to nine points over the final three quarters to finish with a game-high 18 points.

"Our whole game plan was to just really root him out down low and make him turn and shoot shots in our face," Dowdy said.

Another turning point in the first half came when Puxico's David Crain picked up his third foul with over 5 minutes left in the second quarter. The Crusaders went on a 13-0 run to end the second quarter after that.

Saxony's Zach Bohnert said his team felt comfortable with its 31-16 lead at halftime after limiting the Indians to four points in the second quarter. The Crusaders shot 57 percent (12-of-21) in the first half.

"We were excited, but we couldn't stop," he said. "We had a whole other half to play. We had to keep up the pressure."

Saxony pushed its lead to 19 points in the third quarter, but Puxico refused to wilt. The Indians closed to within 10 with 6:14 left in the fourth. But the Crusaders answered withn a 6-1 run.

"We knew they were going to make a run," Steffens said. "They won this last year. This was their game. We just knew we had to respond."

Saxony shot 55 percent in the second half (16-of-29), including 60 percent (6-of-10) in the fourth quarter.

"They came out and really executed well," Dowdy said. "They hit some good shots, even against our man-to-man."