The Hogan Prep Rams have no problem running up and down the court. If anything, the Helias Crusaders wanted to speed them up.
The Rams got a bit out of control during the second quarter, leading to seven turnovers. Helias overcame a slow start to win 63-50 on Saturday in the Central Bank Shootout at Rackers Fieldhouse.
"We wanted to speed them up because we thought we could force them into bad shots early," Helias coach Joe Rothweiler said. "We did a decent job of that at times, but there were other times we didn't have the rotations where we could contest the shots.
"Our best defense would have been taking better shots early."
Helias missed its first six 3-point attempts and made just two field goals in the first six minutes. Hogan Prep jumped out to a 12-6 lead.
Isaac Johnson got the Crusaders' first 3 to fall in the final minute of the first quarter. Ben Cooper, who missed his first three attempts from 3, knocked down a corner jumper for 3 with :04 left in the first quarter to pull Helias within two at 14-12.
"When we shoot the 3s we want to shoot, we shoot a higher percentage," Rothweiler said. "Early in the game, we shot a lot of side-to-side 3s, where we just move around the perimeter and shoot, and that's not how we practice our 3s."
Cooper added another 3 to open the second quarter, then followed that with two baskets in the lane for 10 straight points for the Crusaders. Nick Brandt and Colby LeCuru each made a 3 to stretch Helias' lead to 25-18 with 3:04 to play in the first half.
"We wanted to get him touches early inside that zone," Rothweiler said of Cooper, who scored a game-high 22 points. "He found his groove and he's very capable of taking over games."
The Crusaders also used their half-court trap to fluster the Rams.
"We switched gears on them, because we were having trouble guarding them in our half-court man-to-man," Rothweiler said. "We went to a zone trap and it was successful."
Helias led 27-23 at halftime and never trailed in the third quarter, holding onto a 41-35 advantage entering the fourth.
Hogan Prep, the defending Class 3 state champion, got a 3-pointer from Kevin Sorrells to close the gap to a single possession early in the fourth. However, that would be as close as the Rams would get.
Helias answered with an 11-2 run, getting three-point plays from Cooper and Brandt. Brandt drained a 3 from the left corner to push the lead to double digits at 52-40 with 4:57 to play.
Brandt finished with 16 points.
"He got out in transition and got that and-one off a steal, and then he hit a big 3 in the corner," Rothweiler said of Brandt. " He made some big plays down the stretch."
Helias shot 15-of-17 from the free-throw line, making its final 11 attempts.
Sha-Marr Wright Thompson led Hogan Prep (8-11) with 18 points, shooting 7-of-11 from the field. Ra'jon Hill added 10 points off the bench.
Jake VanLoo had nine points and a game-high six rebounds for Helias (11-8), which hosts Class 5 No. 4 De Smet on Monday.
The JV game starts at 5:30 p.m., followed by the varsity game around 7 p.m.