The Jefferson City Jays had their minds set on making sure Kettering (Ohio) Fairmont's two best players didn't beat them.
That small goal was accomplished. The end result they wanted was not achieved.
Jesse Reliford's hot 3-point shooting and late Jays turnovers sent the Firebirds to the Joe Machens Great 8 Classic championship game after a 58-49 victory Friday at Fleming Fieldhouse.
"We were focused, we executed our game plan," Jefferson City coach Mark Anderson said. "We did a great job on their two players (Ryan Hall and Kellan Bochenek). They had other kids that stepped up and made shots."
Bochenek and Hall scored 12 and 11 points, respectively, but the Jays held them to a combined 39 percent shooting.
It was Reliford who picked up the slack in the second quarter, draining all four of his 3-point attempts on his way to a game-high 16 points.
Reliford's first 3 came from the right corner and gave the Firebirds a 13-11 lead to begin the second quarter. The second and third 3s were both from the left corner and 6-foot-6 post player DaShawn Brown converted a three-point play for a 24-15 lead just three minutes into the second quarter.
"I think he's made five 3s all year and he made four tonight," Anderson said. "Now, after the first two we needed to do a better job of locating him. The third one was too open."
Brennan Jeffries put a stop to the run with a 3 of his own before Reliford added a fourth with 4:21 left before halftime.
The Firebords took a 32-23 lead into intermission.
The Jays climbed back in it with post play and defense in the second half.
Ryan Brooks made a pair of layups in the first four minutes of the second half and Michael Appiah-Brefo closed the third-quarter scoring with a layup in the final minute to close within 36-33.
"We did a better job of being physical and aggressive and we probably needed to do that more in the first half," Anderson said. "That was certainly our game plan. We knew we had a size advantage and I don't think we really exploited it very well in the first half. I thought we did a good job of adjusting to that and getting the ball inside."
The Jays briefly took the lead in the fourth quarter when Folz knocked down a 3 for a 46-45 advantage with 2:42 remaining, but a 7-0 spurt thanks to a pair of turnovers followed to help seal it for Fairmont.
"You just feel like you're pushing that boulder up the hill," Anderson said. "We dug that hole in the second quarter for ourselves and you just feel like you're pushing that boulder and a lot of times you don't get over the hill and we did. We took the lead, we had a tie game, we had the ball with a tie game. For a game where we didn't shoot it particularly well, we still put almost 50 points on the board and we still found a way to get ourselves back into a position to win it."
Folz led the Jays in scoring with 14 points and added nine rebounds.
"He was a scrapper and we found ways to get the ball in positions to score," Anderson said. "Just cant finish it sometimes."
Appiah-Brefo scored 13 points and Brooks had 10 points and nine rebounds.
Jefferson City (6-4) will take on Mount Lebanon (Pa.) at 5:30 p.m. today in the third-place game.
"Obviously it was a big goal of ours to win this tournament," Anderson said. "It was something that was important to us. Now we've got to turn around and play a really, really, really good team. We have two teams that I'm sure were not wanting to play in the third-place game and we'll see which one comes out with a little bit more energy."
Fairmont will face fellow Ohio school Harvest Prep at 7 p.m. in the championship game.