For the second consecutive year, the Calvary Lutheran Lions have won the CCAA championship.
Calvary locked up this year’s CCAA title with a 62-53 win Thursday night against the Prairie Home/Bunceton Panthers at Calvary Lutheran High School. The win makes Calvary 3-0 in conference with one game remaining against 0-3 in conference Jamestown.
“It means a lot to the boys, it was a goal coming into the season,” Calvary coach Beau Monson said. “We won it last year, to get it again this year is big. We did it as a team, we did it together. … To see the boys come out and fight for something like that, it gives the conference meaning, too. It’s really neat to see.”
Gallery: Calvary Lutheran Boys Basketball vs. Prairie Home/Bunceton
The Lions took the lead they would not give up midway through the third quarter.
A 6-3 Panther run to open the second half tied the matchup at 38 with 5:29 left in the third, then Kwesi Hall hit all three free throws after he was fouled o a 3-pointer before connecting on a coast-to-coast layup following a defensive rebound. The quick 5-0 run put Calvary up 43-38 with 3:44 left in the third and the Lions never gave the lead back.
Hall went on to lead the game with 26 points on 8-for-11 shooting, including a perfect 4-of-4 from 3 and adding 6-of-7 makes at the free-throw line.
Wyatt Case hit two free throws, two of his co-team-high 16 points, to cut the lead to 43-40, but Kyle Hagemeyer powered Calvary to a 4-1 run with a driving layup and a steal-turned-layup, four of his 18 points, to put the Lions up 47-41.
After a Jackson Pitts putback layup, two of his 16 points, Hall sent the Lions into the break with a buzzer-beating 3.
Hall collected an errant pass from the baseline near midcourt, turned with a second on the clock and fired for his third 3.
“We knew it was going to be a battle coming into it,” Monson said. “We’d already played a two-point game with them that came down to the wire at their place. … Later in the game, we’ve got to do a better job taking care of the ball in key situations.”
The Panthers cut the lead as close as 53-50 after a Wyatt Case 3 from the left corner off a Brandes assist, but the Lions scored nine of the final 12 points in the game to create the final margin.
“It’s really nice to have them at the point that they are, but at any point there’s always something you can improve on, you can’t ever be content with where you are,” Monson said. “Taking care of the ball is one of the biggest things in those big moments. We’ve had a little bit of a roller coaster with it this year. We’ve had games with 20 and games with single digits, we’ve got to stay more consistent with keeping our turnovers down.”
The Panthers jumped ahead early, building a 5-2 lead after a Tripp Kendrick hook, two of his 10 points, then built to a 10-6 lead after another Kendrick layup.
Calvary came back to tie at 10 after Hall went coast to coast for a floater, but an 8-1 run put the Panthers up 18-11 before they took an 18-15 lead into the first break.
The 3s were falling for both teams early in the second, with the pair combining for five made 3s in the first 3:12. The final was from Hall off a Jaxson Jobe assist, one of his game-high five, and put the Lions up 26-24 for their first lead of the game.
Calvary extended as far as 35-28 before a free throw and a half-court buzzer-beating 3 from Brandes cut the Calvary lead to 35-32 heading into halftime.
Calvary shot 23-of-46 (50 percent) overall, 6-of-13 (46.2 percent) from 3 and 10-of-16 (62.5 percent) at the free-throw line. The Panthers connected on 18-of-63 (28.6 percent) of their overall attempts, 9-of-22 (40.9 percent) from deep and 8-of-16 (50 percent) at the charity stripe.
The Panthers created their overall shots taken margin with a 44-25 advantage on the boards, including 24 offensive rebounds.
“We’ve hounded them this week on getting in position, boxing out, rebounding and going and trying to find the ball,” Monson said. “Last year and this year, we haven’t been the tallest, but the boys don’t back down from a challenge and they play with their hearts, they play together and it seems like it adds about five inches to their heights sometimes.”
Calvary Lutheran (15-8, 3-0 CCAA) plays its final conference game today at Jamestown (6-16, 0-3).
“I know record-wise, we locked it up tonight,” Monson said. “But we’re all in agreement we want the game tomorrow just as much as tonight.”
Prairie Home/Bunceton (8-16, 2-2) plays host to Tuscumbia at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.