Saxony slays Dragons in final seconds 42-40

After a rather ugly performance for most of Tuesday night, Saxony Lutheran used a pretty play in the final 10 seconds to defeat Ste. Genevieve 42-40.

With guards Trey Maevers and Lauren Lueders darting to the backcourt as decoys, Grant Lehmann looped an inbounds pass over a Ste. Genevieve defender to Tim Lorenz for an easy layup with 8.2 seconds to play, capping Saxony's comeback from a six-point deficit with just 3 1/2 minutes remaining.

"I drew that up in the timeout," Saxony coach John Daniel said. "It's not very often a play comes out just like you draw it up, but that one did."

Saxony (10-2) still had to survive a desperation 3-point attempt from Ste. Genevieve (6-10), but the Crusaders seemed most comfortable on the defensive end all night. Kyle Faulkner fired an off-balance shot that come up short of the rim as the buzzer sounded.

"Our defense was fine," Daniel said. "We just had too many turnovers, and it was an ugly game for the first 3 1/2 quarters. I thought we played well down the stretch. The kids kept their composure and found a way to win."

In a game that had plenty of scoring droughts and very little rhythm, Saxony fell behind 38-32 with 3:36 to play after Faulkner made a layin.

Trey Maevers hit a free throw to pull Saxony within 38-33, then the Saxony defense took over. Justin McCollum came up with back-to-back steals that led to three points -- a free throw by Maevers and a layup by Alex Jauch that pulled Saxony within two with 2:50 to play.

After Ste. Gen's Mike Schlueter and Casey Petzoldt traded baskets, Maevers was fouled trying to rebound a Ste. Gen miss with 1:15 to go. He made two free throws to tie the score at 40-40 and then made a steal on the Dragons' ensuing possession.

Saxony ran about a minute off the clock before setting up the game-winning inbounds play to Lorenz, who had not scored in more then 9 1/2 minutes but still led the Crusaders with 15 points.

Maevers added 12, and Casey Petzoldt scored 11. Jauch scored the other six for Saxony, which made 10 of 19 free throws.

Ste. Genevieve, which was 0-for-2 from the free-throw line, was led by Schlueter with 16 and Faulkner with 12.

The Dragons took a 10-3 lead in the first 4 minutes by dominating the inside, but neither team had that large a lead for the rest of the night.

"I don't believe we came to play," Daniel said. "They had five offensive rebounds in the first half and converted four of them for baskets. I thought we did a better job in the second half with the post defense."

SAXONY LUTHERAN 42, STE. GENEVIEVE 40

Ste. Genevieve 12 7 11 10 -- 40

Saxony Lutheran 9 10 10 13 -- 42

STE. GENEVIEVE (40) -- Kyle Faulkner 12, Mike Schlueter 16, Jacob Donze 8, Garrett Ditch 4. FG 19, FT 0-2, F 19 (3-pointers: Faulkner 2. Fouled out: none)

SAXONY (42) -- Trey Maevers 12, Casey Petzoldt 9, Alex Jauch 6, Tim Lorenz 15. FG 15, FT 10-19, F 10 (3-pointers: Lorenz, Maevers. Fouled out: none)