The Helias Crusaders started the Great 8 Classic by winning with their offense. They would wrap it up by winning with their defense.
Helias allowed just 13 points in the second half Friday and forced 21 turnovers en route to a 50-33 win against the Western (Ky.) Warriors in the third-place game at Fleming Fieldhouse.
"A 17-point win for us tonight was pretty deceiving," Helias coach Josh Buffington said. "That was a grind-it-out win for our team. We needed that."
The outcome was still in doubt when the fourth quarter began. Western's Vitto Taylor knocked down a 3-pointer in the opening minute to trim Helias' lead to 33-31.
That shot was one of the few baskets the Crusaders allowed in the second half, and they would allow just one more the rest of the game.
Helias answered with a 3-pointer by Isaac Johnson on the ensuing possession and then Nick Brandt drained another 3 in the corner just 19 seconds later. The Crusaders then stretched their lead to 41-31 with a pair of Marcus Anthony free throws with 6:09 to play.
Helias made its push with Landon Harrison resting on the bench to start the fourth quarter. He returned to the game after Anthony's free throws.
"Those were dagger threes," Buffington said. "I thought Isaac did a great job for us tonight. He gave us some great minutes and allowed us to rest Landon. Landon has been pretty beat up through this entire tournament. Then Nick's dagger three right after that in transition, he plays best when he plays free."
Western shot just 2-of-10 from the floor during the fourth quarter and committed five turnovers. The Warriors snapped an 11-0 Helias run with a basket by Dajour Cameron at the 4:51 mark, but those would be their final points of the game.
"Our pressure was better tonight," Buffington said. "It was containment pressure with certain lineups and it was amped-up pressure with different lineups. Our guys did a good job of adjusting to our own personnel while we were pressuring."
The Warriors periodically beat Helias' pressure late in the game, but that didn't always produce positive results. Nathan Bax, Helias' 6-foot-6 junior guard/forward, drew back-to-back charges in the lane down the stretch, eliminating a couple of the Warriors' scoring opportunities.
"I told him I've never had a kid take five charges in one game," Buffington said of Bax. "That's so impressive."
Bax struggled in Helias' first two tournament outings, but he shined Friday. Bax finished with 16 points and nine rebounds, joining Harrison on the all-tournament team.
"I think it was a coming-out party for Nathan," Buffington said. "We really needed him to show up. That was a huge game he had."
Although the Crusaders held the Warriors to 33 percent shooting from the field, they had their struggles as well, going 15-of-47 for 32 percent. Helias also shot 3-of-17 from 3-point range.
However, Helias finished 17-of-23 at the free-throw line and committed just nine turnovers. The Crusaders only had one turnover in the second half.
Harrison did his damage in the first half, scoring 14 of his game-high 22 points before intermission. Harrison and Bax scored all of Helias' first-half points. The duo gave the Crusaders a 23-20 lead as they went into the locker room.
Harrison finished the week with 83 points, which shied in comparison to the tournament-record 124 points scored by Jarkel Joiner of Oxford (Miss.). However, in addition to setting the individual tournament free-throw percentage record last season, Harrison also tied the single-game record of six 3-pointers, as well as scoring a record 44 points, in the Crusaders' tournament opener against Oxford.
"I know we didn't win it all and we're disappointed we did not, but that was one of the best individual performances that a kid from Helias has had in this tournament," Buffington said of Harrison. "He makes us go, he's our leader by example. I can't put into words how hard he played."
Cameron and Jevon Thompson led Western with seven points each. Oneal Swint, who was named to the all-tournament team for the Warriors, finished with four points and six rebounds.
Helias (7-1) will play its next game Tuesday against Moberly at Moberly Area Community College. The Crusaders will then return to tournament action Thursday, when they'll face Lebanon at 9 p.m. in the first round of the Houlihan's Tournament, hosted by Springfield Catholic.