COLUMBIA, Mo. - When Landon Harrison converted a layup just 30 seconds into the second quarter of Friday night's Class 4 semifinal game, the offense seemed to be humming for the Helias Crusaders.
To that point, the Crusaders had canned 6-of-11 shots from the field (55 percent) and had taken their biggest lead of the game at 17-13.
But things wouldn't come so easily the rest of the way, as Helias made just eight of its final 31 shots (26 percent) as St. Joseph Lafayette roared back to claim a 68-51 win at Mizzou Arena.
"Credit to the kids, they really guarded well," Lafayette coach Chris Neff said. "The film of Helias is frightening. The preparation is frightening. A lot is to do with (Helias) coach Josh Buffington and his crew of kids and their ability to execute. So I'm really proud of what the kids were able to do defensively."
After taking that lead, the Crusaders made just three of their next 22 shots, by which time the Fighting Irish had taken their biggest lead of the night at 56-37 with four minutes left in the fourth quarter.
"We probably didn't play up to our potential, statistically, tonight and a lot of that had to do with St. Joe Lafayette's athleticism and pressure and their physical play," Buffington said. "They just sped us up a little."
Lafayette came out hot, racing to a 7-0 lead and forcing Helias to burn a timeout slightly more than two minutes into the game.
But the Crusaders stormed back, putting together a 15-6 run to end the period, taking a 15-13 edge into the second quarter. Harrison had six of those points on his way to a game-high 24.
"He's a dynamic player, a very talented kid," Buffington said. "... It shows how athletic he is, too, because at times, as athletic as they were, they could not guard him. He made a lot of big-time plays for us tonight and I'm definitely proud of his individual play."
But the shooting woes started soon after for Helias, as the Crusaders made just 4-of-19 shots in the second and third quarters. The Fighting Irish led 27-23 at halftime and 42-31 after three quarters.
Making things tough for the Crusaders were post players Trevor Koelling and Nathan Bax picking up their third and second fouls, respectively, in the second quarter and having to sit for large stretches.
"We struggle in games where we get in foul trouble with two of our three bigs, times 10 when they foul out," Buffington said.
Koelling eventually fouled out after playing just 16 minutes and scoring seven points.
"You didn't get to see much of it tonight because he dealt with foul trouble, but Koelling is amazing," Neff said. "His ability to post and what that coaching staff has done with him over the years as he's progressed through their program has been phenomenal. ... When you watch film, that stands out more than anything. Then what they possess in the way of shooting and executing screens and cuts to get good looks, it really is a difficult preparation."
But the Fighting Irish were able to find an answer for all of that, holding the Crusaders to 3-percent shooting for the game, including just 15 percent on 3-pointers (2-of-13).
"It's a (17-point) spread and that's four or five 3s that tightens that up. (Helias is) ordinarily going to get those, that's kind of been who they are," Neff said. "... So a lot of credit to our kids. All of us that sit on those benches, we just try to get teenagers to do it right and I've been really fortunate to have some really good teenagers."
Helias did its best to put together a comeback late, hitting five of its final eight shots, but Lafayette did to the Crusaders what they've been doing to teams during their postseason run. With the big lead, the Fighting Irish forced the Crusaders to foul them, and in the fourth quarter they hit a scorching 18-of-20 (90 percent) from the line.
"(That kind of effort) was incredibly typical early in the year and through the middle part of the season," Neff said. "... We've kind of drifted from that, to be honest. We've had some pretty poor shooting performances in the last three weeks. It's been concerning and we've discussed it quite a bit. It's odd, we didn't use to shoot a ton of free throws in practice and now that we have, it's not working.
"Tonight, it kind of shows how tough our kids are mentally, being able to step up there. ... It was a lot of kids who got a chance to see it go through the hoop."
Three different Lafayette players went 2-of-2 from the line in the fourth, one went 4-of-4 and the only one to miss connected on 8-of-10.
"Being down 10 to them in the fourth quarter is tough to come back from when they have guards who handle it like they do," Buffington said. "It was similar to what we've done to people at times this year when we've had leads in the fourth."
Harrison was the only Crusader to reach double figures, as Sam Husting joined Koelling with seven points. Adam Bax yanked down a game-high nine rebounds for Helias.
Sterling Hicks paced Lafayette with 16 points, while Caleb Bennett had 15 and Diego Bernard had 14.
Helias is now 0-for-6 all-time in their opening game at the Final Four. The Crusaders have taken third in four out of their previous trips - doing so in 1993, 1994, 2009 and 2014 - to go with a fourth-place finish in 2001.
Lafayette (28-3) will play Vashon (25-4) at 8:10 p.m. today for the state title, while Helias (20-10) will face Sikeston (28-2) at 12:50 p.m. for third place. (Follow News Tribune's @tony_hawley on Twitter for updates during the game.) Vashon nipped Sikeston 69-66 in overtime in Friday's first semifinal.
"We were honored to get here, but we were not satisfied, so this one really hurts," Buffington said. "To refocus and come back here in 14 hours or whatever it is and play a game, that's tough to do.
"And we're playing against a team that was ranked No. 1 in the state for a lot of the season. But our guys are a resilient group. ... It's a challenge. We can beat a team that was ranked No. 1 or 2 the entire season.
"It's a loaded Final Four and we know we are very deserving of being here and we get another chance to go out there and prove it (today)."