Any time the Battle Spartans tried to pull away, the Jefferson City Jays were able to make their own run to keep the deficit to single digits.
Unfortunately for the Jays, their runs stopped late in the third quarter and the Spartans kept running the entire game in an 85-69 victory for Battle on Thursday night in the championship game of the Class 5 District 8 Tournament at Fleming Fieldhouse.
Six points from DaMani Jarrett in a 1:15 span got the Jays within 54-48 at the 2:15 park of the third quarter.
"Just battling, just trying to stay positive and just keep reminding them we're a few stops away, a few good possessions away," Jays coach Blair Thompson said. "That got us a few runs there."
The Spartans closed the quarter on a 9-2 run and Keiondre Hall drained a 3-pointer to start the fourth quarter. In less than 3 minutes, the Jays' deficit went from six to 16.
"They spread it around and made extra passes and knocked down shots," Thompson said. "It's tough to beat them when they're doing that."
Battle shot 11-of-16 from beyond the arc, including a 4-of-7 performance by Trae Meny.
Two of Meny's 3s came in the middle of the fourth quarter to made Battle's lead 17, the largest of the game. He was one of five Spartans to score in double figures.
He and Alexander Smith each had 16, and Daviante Ostrander led with 18. Maricus Grant and Hall each finished with 14 points.
"I thought Battle played a really solid game tonight and they deserved to win it," Thompson said. "I thought our game plan was good going in. We kind of stayed with what had been working for us and Battle countered that with knocking down some shots and handling the ball."
Jefferson City began the game with an aggressive inside attack, but the Jays couldn't get the rolls.
The Jays shot 3-of-14 in the opening eight minutes. Four Battle turnovers helped the Jays keep the deficit at 18-11 after the first quarter.
"We had a tough time finishing around the basket," Thompson said. "The few good looks we got we just couldn't find the basket. You add on that we gave up a bunch of runouts. They got some easy buckets."
The Spartans led by as many as 10 in the second quarter, but the Jays scored 10 points in the first few minutes of the quarter to get within five.
Hudson Nilges made a pair of 3s, Kamari Balton scored inside and Jarrett got a second-chance bucket during that stretch.
Balton scored a game-high 27 points, making 7-of-9 at the free-throw line. The Jays were 16-of-20 at the line.
Rae'Quan Davis made 8-of-9 at the line on his way to 13 points. Jarrett made 5-of-6 field goals for 10 points.
Jefferson City trailed 39-32 at halftime with the help of 6-of-10 shooting in the second quarter, but the Jays shot 39.6 percent for the game.
"It was a tough shooting night for us," Thompson said. "I thought their pressure bothered us a little bit as well, got us sped up. That's something we struggled with all year."
Battle (12-15) advances to play either Webster Groves (24-2) or Vianney (13-13) in a sectional contest Wednesday.
The Jays end their season with a 10-16 record.
"I thought we played our best basketball this past week to be honest with you," Thompson said. "We won one of our last three games but at the same time I thought in spurts there we played the way we're supposed to play."