Friday night's game wasn't so much about winning or losing. For the Helias Crusaders, it was about finishing the regular season strong.
Hosting the Rock Bridge Bruins, ranked No. 7 in Class 5 by the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association, Helias shot nearly 50 percent from the field. But that wasn't enough, as the Crusaders lost 71-56 at Rackers Fieldhouse.
Helias, ranked No. 9 in Class 4, played one of its better games of the season. It just happened to come against one of its toughest opponents.
"We did some great things tonight," Helias coach Josh Buffington said. "Rock Bridge is a great basketball team. They've won 16 out of their last 17 for a reason."
One of those reasons is the Bruins' 3-point shooting. Rock Bridge shot 6-of-7 beyond the arc in the first half and only took one 3-point attempt in the second half.
Isiaih Mosley, Rock Bridge's 6-foot-5 sophomore, was 4-for-4 from 3-point range in the first half. He scored 16 of his game-high 25 points before intermission to give the Bruins a 38-26 lead.
"Defensively, our guys executed our game plan to a tee in the first half," Buffington said. "We had to give up something in order to keep them out of the paint. We had to give up some jumpers and they were able to knock those down."
Helias made 8-of-10 shots in the first quarter. Nick Brandt hit a 3 from the left corner and Landon Harrison made a wide-open layup off an inbounds pass in the closing seconds, as Helias trimmed its deficit to 21-19 after the opening eight minutes.
The Crusaders couldn't keep shooting at that pace though. Helias shot 20 percent from the field in the second quarter and Rock Bridge shot at least 50 percent from the floor in each quarter.
Rock Bridge (19-4) also took away the mid-range jump shot from Helias. The Crusaders were forced to either shoot 3s or attack the rim on each possession.
"They're just so long on the wings," Buffington said. "They make it tough on you to enter the ball into your offense. You really just have to play downhill."
Nathan Bax led the way for Helias in the second half, scoring his team's first eight points of the third quarter. Bax had 13 of his team-high 19 points in the second half, shooting 7-of-9 from the field while grabbing seven rebounds.
"Nathan missed about six or seven days in a row," Buffington said. "Obviously, we didn't have him last Friday (against Father Tolton). He's still battling sickness, so for him to come out and do that and battle the way he did, I had a lot of respect for him tonight with the way he played."
Rock Bridge ended the third quarter on an 8-0 run to lead 55-37. The Bruins led by as many as 21 points in the fourth quarter.
The Bruins, who shot 56.5 percent from the field, also had 16 points from Dajuan Harris and 11 points from Eysan Wiley.
Harrison finished with 16 points for Helias (18-7), which heads into next week's Class 4 District 11 Tournament as the No. 1 seed. The Crusaders will play the winner between Salem and Owensville in the semifinals at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at School of the Osage.
Buffington said he feels good about his team after having four good days of practice, followed by Friday's game against one of the state's top programs.
"This is a great way to end the regular season, when you have to play one of the best Class 5 programs in the state year in and year out," Buffington said. "It's by design to play Rock Bridge the last game of the year, because win or lose, there's so much you can learn from that one game.
"The formula has been pretty successful the past eight years. Hopefully it pans out to be successful again."
In the JV game, Helias won 63-53 to finish the season with a 17-3 record. Carter Toebben led the Crusaders with 16 points, while Colby LeCuru and Isaac Johnson chipped in 14 and 11 points, respectively.