Saxony Lutheran christens new gym with five-point win

A full house of 728 fans came out to watch Saxony Lutheran open its impressive new facility with a 62-57 basketball win over Marquand Saturday afternoon.

Saxony (2-0) started slow and the Tigers came out shooting hot, jumping out to an early 13-7 lead with 2:50 to go in the first quarter. But Saxony's Lauren Lueders slowed Marquand with some strong defensive play, and Tim Lorenz began scoring inside to bring the Crusaders within two.

"I think the kids were a bit nervous and over-excited," Saxony Lutheran coach John Daniel said. "Once we got that out of our system, I thought we played really well in the second quarter."

In the second quarter, Saxony used the fast break led by Trey Maevers and Casey Petzoldt to take the lead and went into the half up 35-24.

Marquand came out firing in the second half. Led by Josh King and his seven 3-pointers, the Tigers continually hit basket after basket.

"Josh usually shoots really well, so he's capable of shooting like that. He shot even better last year," Marquand coach Shawn Dugger said. "His shooting percentage isn't as high as it was last year, so he's capable of doing better."

But by the end of the third, Marquand had only cut two points off the home team's lead and went into the fourth down 52-43.

The Tigers continued to make shots in the fourth and were able to cut Saxony's lead down to 59-54 with 2:13 remaining. However, Lueders and Maevers played keep-away the rest of the game while Marquand fouled in desperation.

Although his team lost, Marquand's King did all he could to prevent it, scoring 33 points with seven 3-pointers and seven rebounds.

For Saxony Lutheran, Lorenz led the way in scoring with 22 points, followed by Petzoldt with 16. Lueders also scored in double figures with 10. Petzoldt led in rebounds with 10.