It's been a rough start to the season for the Helias Crusaders.
They entered Saturday afternoon's seventh-place game of the Joe Machens Great 8 Classic on a five-game losing streak, with their last victory coming nearly a month ago.
Helias went with what it does best to get out of the slump: shooting from long range.
Helias made a tournament-record 20 3-pointers on it's way to a 66-24 rout of the Hopkinsville (Ky.) Tigers at Fleming Fieldhouse.
The 20 3-pointers is also a Helias record, which was previously 16 in 2011.
Helias coach Joe Rothweiler didn't foresee that result based on the morning shootaround.
"They were worn out and they were really down about the loss yesterday," Rothweiler said. "They took that hard. I had a few guys in the locker room for 30, 45 minutes after the game. They were emotional about losing that game.
"I was a little worried at the shootaround at first, but we got out of it and ate lunch together afterwards, and I think our guys are really starting to come together now."
The bombardment of 3s didn't get off to a hot start. Helias missed its first three long-range attempts and trailed 4-2 before Ben Cooper knocked one down from the right wing with 2:48 left in the opening quarter.
Malcolm Davis added a 3 a minute later and Helias led 8-6 after the first quarter.
The Crusaders rolled from there, nailing 8-of-9 in the second quarter to lead 34-11 at halftime.
"They came out with great energy," Rothweiler said. "Our guys usually can really focus on the game and not what place it is."
Isaac Johnson's third 3-pointer of the second quarter made it 23-9.
Nick Brandt, Colby LeCuru and Cooper each added a 3 before Cooper finished off the half with a jumper just in front of the arc at the buzzer.
"We have a lot of shooters," Rothweiler said. "We're very capable of hitting, not 20, but we've got 16 3s in a game this season. That's our strength. We're going to go with what our strength is."
Helias was nine away from tying the tournament record of 19 3s, which Harvest Prep (Ohio) set Friday against Blair Oaks, at halftime.
Jake VanLoo made Helias' 15th with 2:20 left in the third quarter for a 49-21 lead.
"When the guys are having fun like that and when we're kind of in a slump that we've been in, I was just ecstatic about the way they were playing," Rothweiler said.
With 3:06 remaining, LeCuru caught a pass at the right wing and drained the record-tying 3-pointer.
On Helias' next possession, Brandt passed it to Joe Rembecki, who sent it around to LeCuru at the top of the key for the 20th 3-pointer to break the record with 2:26 remaining.
LeCuru celebrated with an emphatic fist pump toward the roaring Helias bench.
LeCuru and Johnson each made 4-of-5 from the field - all 3s - to score 12 points each.
Brandt was 3-of-4 and had Helias' only two makes at the free-throw line for 11 points.
VanLoo and Davis each scored nine points on three 3s.
The Crusaders shot 62.5 percent from 3-point range and 2-of-7 from inside the arc.
But Rothweiler was more impressed by Helias' defense.
The Crusaders held James Nicholas, who was named to the all-tournament team, scoreless.
Hopkinsville was held to single digits in every quartet except the third, when the Tigers scores 12.
"Defense is really where we needed to get better at and I was really happy with the way we guarded today," Rothweiler said. "Really happy. They came out and they fought and they played super hard on the defensive end."
Jamarion Sharp, a 7-foot-2 center, led the Tigers with nine points.
Cooper made the all-tournament team for Helias (3-6), which has a quick turnaround.
The Crusaders will play Fort Zumwalt East at noon Monday in the Warrenton Tournament.