For three quarters, the Helias Crusaders looked ready to upset the Class 5 No. 7 Hogan Prep Rams.
Then came the fourth quarter.
Helias entered the fourth quarter with a 46-35 advantage, then Jacob Rembecki hit a 3 from the right wing off an Austin Weaver assist to give the Crusaders their biggest lead of the game at 49-35 with 7:42 left to play.
Then the Rams began charging.
Hogan Prep came all the way back in the fourth quarter to take a 62-59 win Saturday in the final game of the Central Bank Shootout at Rackers Fieldhouse.
Dajuan Barrett hit a layup for two of his 18 points, Michael Smith Jr. dished one of his game-high five assists to Reggie Mitchem for a layup on an inbounds play, two of Mitchem’s 12 points, and Barrett connected on two free throws. Charles Griddine then assisted Mitchem for a right-corner 3 to complete a 9-0 Hogan Prep run spanning just less than two minutes and cutting the Helias lead to 49-44.
Logan Hillman ended the run when he drove for a layup through contact -- the start of eight consecutive Helias points from Hillman helping build a 19-point day off the bench. The Rams and Hillman went back and forth for nearly three minutes, with the Rams continuing to chip away with a couple of 3s, bringing Helias’ lead down to 55-54 after a Smith layup. Hillman extended it back to 57-54 with a drive from the wing for a layup off one of Sam Lopez’s three assists, then Henry Neuenswander hit two free throws, two of his 17 points, to put the Crusaders up 59-54.
They were the final points Helias would score, as Smith took over the final three minutes, driving for a layup, then assisting Barrett for another to cut the Crusader lead to 59-58. Smith turned a steal into a one-and-one opportunity, hitting the first to tie the game at 59 -- the first tie since 4-4 with 3:47 left in the first -- then the second to put the Rams up 60-59 -- their first lead since 2-1 with 6:36 left in the first. Smith gave the Rams some breathing room with a short jumper with 54.4 seconds left to create the final score.
“We didn’t fight for rebounds, we gave them layups, we took some very questionable shots. I take blame for part of that and we’ll have a long talk with the guys tomorrow about what we can do to get better,” Helias coach Joe Rothweiler said. “The fourth quarter was bad, there’s not much else to say about it.”
The Crusaders had multiple chances to tie again.
Rothweiler called timeout after Smith’s final jumper, getting Helias set for a Rembecki attempt from 3. The attempt was off, but Helias got a team rebound when the fight for the ball went out of bounds. Rothweiler then called the team’s final timeout with 24.1 seconds left, but couldn’t get the look he wanted again, this time it was Hillman sending up a wayward 3.
“They guarded well,” Rothweiler said. “We tried to get Jacob (Rembecki) open for a 3 look, they switched a screen, they knew it was coming and they did a good job defending it. I thought we still did a good job of not panicking and moving and trying to get a look, but Hogan just guarded really well on that possession.”
Mitchem came down with the rebound for Hogan Prep, one of his game-high 12 boards, before he heaved the ball upcourt to avoid a foul in the waning seconds and ran out the clock.
“We played well early, I thought we played some of our best basketball the last month or so early in the game,” Rothweiler said. “We just kind of turn into a different team down the stretch. We didn’t close it out. Hogan Prep made some plays, but all the toughness plays we were making in the first half, we didn’t make in the second half, and that was pretty much the name of the game.”
Helias jumped in front 10-6 in the first quarter and built to a 16-10 lead going into the first break before extending to a 31-24 advantage at halftime.
“From the first half, I thought we guarded the best we’ve guarded for a while,” Rothweiler said. “We were physical, we communicated early and I thought that was one of our best defensive halves in a while. We’ll look at that and look at the differences between that and the second half and we’ll learn from it.”
The Crusaders then held Hogan Prep to 11 points in the third quarter to create the 46-35 lead heading into the fourth.
Hillman led Helias with 19 points to go with four rebounds and two steals, while Neuenswander had 17 points, three rebounds and two assists. Rembecki joined them in double figures with 10 points and four boards. Sam Lopez led the Crusaders with six rebounds.
Helias shot 20-of-51 (39.2 percent) overall, 6-of-22 (27.3 percent) from 3 and 13-of-17 (76.5 percent) at the free-throw line. Hogan Prep made 23-of-51 (45.1 percent) of its overall tries, 3-of-15 (20 percent) from 3 and 13-of-20 (65 percent) from the free-throw line.
Helias (9-10) will look to end a three-game losing skid when it plays Monday at DeSmet.