At halftime of the third-place game of the Calvary Lutheran Basketball Tournament, the host Lions found themselves in position to come away with a victory.
Then the shots stopped falling.
The Lions made just 9-of-30 shots (30 percent) in the second half and saw the St. Louis Christian Home School Association Blue Knights pull away for a 63-43 win.
For Calvary head coach Mark Buffington, the cold shooting was a familiar sight, as the Lions also struggled from the field earlier in the day in a 44-34 loss to Lutheran: Kansas City in the winner's bracket semifinals.
"When you're running an offense and you get decent shots and they're still not falling, that's frustrating," Buffington said.
A perfect example of that frustration came in the first two minutes of the third quarter. The Lions forced the Blue Knights into a miss on their first possession, but promptly missed a 3-pointer. St. Louis Christian then turned the ball over on three straight possessions, but Calvary went one-shot-and-out after each, missing a 3, missing a layup and missing another 3.
"We did get frustrated - we just couldn't make shots," Buffington said.
The Blue Knights ended up outscoring the Lions 16-10 in the period, turning a 24-21 halftime edge into a 40-31 lead.
It got worse in the fourth, as St. Louis Christian outscored Calvary 23-12 and led by as many as 23 points.
"Defensively, we gave up 63 points, but we didn't play that poorly on the defensive end," Buffington said. "What hurt us was their press early. We had some key turnovers that may have made a difference at halftime."
The Blue Knights had 22 points off turnovers in the victory, including six in each of the first two quarters. That helped them lead 13-11 after one quarter before upping the advantage by one point going into intermission.
Trevor Dusheke was the only Lion to score in double figures, as he had 10 in the contest.
Sam Dummerth and Blake Bueherer had 15 points apiece for St. Louis Christian, while Luke Siecinski added 13 and Joe Chambers chipped in with 10.
Earlier in the day, Calvary found itself down by 20 at halftime to Lutheran: Kansas City before falling 44-34.
"We gave ourselves a chance," Buffington said. "We were within four and had the ball a couple times to make it a one-possession game and just couldn't convert."
The Lions ended up 1-2 in the event, winning their opener 71-39 against the Fulton School at St. Albans late Friday night, and are now 4-6 on the season.
"We have nothing to be ashamed of - we competed," Buffington said. "One of the things with us is getting that weight-room facility going (at the school's new gym) and getting some strength. We've got some slightly built kids and that makes a difference in a tournament like this where you're getting banged around. That will help us down the road.
"I'm proud of the kids, we had a good tournament and played some good basketball."
Calvary returns to action Tuesday at home against Bunceton. The game will start around 7:30 p.m., following a girls game between the schools starting at 6 p.m.
III
An All-Tournament Team was selected.
FIRST TEAM: Trevor Dusheke, Calvary; Alden Rohrback, Jamestown; Trevor Barbour, Jamestown; Brian Wilde, St. Elizabeth; Easton Aspegren, Lutheran: Kansas City; Brendan Shine, St. Albans.
HORNORABLE MENTION: Beau Monson, Calvary; Braydon Holtmeyer, St. Elizabeth; Austin Berendzen, Cole Camp; Brennan Kane, Lutheran: Kansas City; Sam Dummerth, St. Louis Christian Home School Association; Blake Buehrer, St. Louis Christian Home School Association.