Saxony makes it six straight wins in blowout of St. Paul Lutheran

It didn’t take long for the Saxony Lutheran Crusaders to take control in their 77-37 win over the St. Paul Lutheran Giants on Friday at Saxony Lutheran High School.

The Crusaders jumped out to a 24-7 lead behind 13 first-quarter points from Jon Hartmann.

“It’s such a good feeling when you’re sitting there hoping for a good start and then we come out and hit some threes,” Crusaders coach Justin Callahan said. “Jon really got us going. We let him have a little bit more free reign if he’s got the open shot and we’re going to look to take it and he did tonight and he knocked them down and it helped tremendously.”

The Crusaders continued to score as they won the second quarter 26-8 to lead 50-15 as the teams entered the locker room at halftime.

Overall, Callahan was happy with the complete performance of his team.

“We’ve been playing much better,” Callahan said. “I thought we came out shooting well and played decent defense.”

The Crusaders would coast in the second half to win 77-37 and make it six straight wins.

At one point Saxony Lutheran was 2-6 with a tough road ahead and now the Crusaders sit at 11-8.

“It was a tough first semester,” Callahan said. “We want to peak at the right time, at this time of year going into districts and I feel like we’re doing that. We just want to keep it going.”

Hartmann led the way for the Crusaders with a game-high 24 points in the win. Luke Eggemeyer had 15 points, Max Richey had 12 points and Landon Ochs had 11 points.

Saxony Lutheran (11-8) is back in action at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 7 when the Crusaders host the Perryville Pirates at Saxony Lutheran High School.

“We’ve got to continue to shoot well,” Callahan said. “We’ve got to rebound well as a team. It’s the same stuff, shoot well, handle the ball well and play smart defense.”