LAKE OZARK - The Helias Crusaders couldn't buy a basket in the second half.
Good thing they found a home at the free-throw line.
Helias made 17 consecutive free throws and converted on its first 15 attempts at the line to start the second half. The Crusaders made a total of 26 free throws Thursday to win 63-50 against the Rolla Bulldogs in the Class 4 District 11 championship game.
It's Helias' seventh district title in the past nine seasons.
"We knew it was going to be a very physical basketball game coming in," Helias coach Josh Buffington said. "A war is what we prepared for, and our guys did a great job of not backing down tonight.
"It's always on our board in our pregame talk to make more free throws than the other team attempts. I don't know if we did that tonight, but I do know we got there and we converted."
Helias, in fact, did make more free throws than Rolla attempted. The Crusaders shot 26-of-33 at the free-throw line, while Rolla was 7-of-10.
"We just had to take control of the ball, be strong with the ball to get to the free-throw line and make our free throws," said Helias senior Dalton Weaver, who was perfect on all six of his attempts at the line. "We practice it every day. If we do that, we'll win the game."
Leading 30-23 at halftime, Helias shot just 1-of-7 from the field in the third quarter, yet still scored 16 points in the eight minutes. The Crusaders were 14-of-14 at the line in the third and led 46-41 entering the fourth quarter.
"At times this year, we've really struggled from the line," Buffington said. "The last four or five games, we've been very solid from the free-throw line. In late February and March, you have to convert at the line."
The free-throw streak ended in the fourth quarter when Nick Brandt missed his second attempt on a two-shot foul with 6:12 to play.
Rolla closed the gap, scoring on back-to-back possessions. Blaize Klossner drained a 3-pointer from the right wing with 3:56 to play to bring the Bulldogs within one possession of the Crusaders' lead at 51-48.
Helias made only two of its first 15 shots in the second half. Then Nick Brandt scored on a transition play and drew a foul as well, making the free throw to extend the lead to 55-48 with 2:42 to play.
"We don't get many runouts in postseason basketball," Buffington said. "We rotated very well defensively, came up with a steal and Marcus Anthony made a tremendous kick-ahead pass to Nick, who made a very impressive left-handed finish under pressure."
Anthony made it two straight field goals for Helias, knocking down a 3 on the Crusaders' next possession to make the score 58-48. Rather than stall the clock, Anthony took the wide-open look with 2:07 to play.
"It's one of those shots where you say, 'No, no, no!'" Buffington said. "Then you say, 'Yes, yes, yes!'"
Helias went to the free-throw line on all 14 second-half fouls by Rolla - including two intentional fouls - in the second half.
Before their second-half shooting struggles, the Crusaders shot 47.6 percent from the field in the first half.
After Rolla took its only lead on the game's first possession, Landon Harrison knocked down a 3 on a 52-second possession by Helias.
Harrison finished with a game-high 23 points.
Brandt added 12 points and Nathan Bax scored 10 points before fouling out. Weaver added eight points and 10 rebounds.
Zach Burns led Rolla (15-12) with 16 points and Josh Pritchett chipped in 15.
Helias (20-7) will play the winner of the District 12 title game between Grandview and Nevada in the Class 4 sectionals at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Sedalia Smith-Cotton High School.
Grandview (22-4) and Nevada (23-3) will play at 7:30 p.m. today in Clinton.