The Helias Crusaders played a perfect second quarter on the offensive end Friday night.
Aside from three turnovers in those eight minutes, Helias knocked down all 10 shot attempts - and its lone free-throw try - to overcome a 10-point deficit and beat the Oxford (Miss.) Chargers 68-57 in the first round of the Joe Machens Great 8 Classic at Fleming Fieldhouse.
"The second quarters have been really good this year," Helias coach Joe Rothweiler said.
Helias outscored Oxford 24-14 in the second quarter, turning a 17-10 deficit into a 34-31 halftime lead.
"Our guys are resilient this year," Rothweiler said. "They can deal with that slow start and then refocus and get back after it."
It was a perimeter game for the first four minutes. Neither team took a shot inside the 3-point line until Helias' Marcus Anthony scored a putback at the 4:17 mark of the first quarter.
Oxford came out with a zone defense, which forced the Crusaders to take 10 of their 15 shots in the first quarter from 3-point range.
"That's the first time we've been zoned this year," Rothweiler said. "I was worried about that going in. You have to make shots against a zone, and it's hard to get the type of 3s that we like."
Malcolm Davis knocked down a 3 from the right wing, then hit another 3 from the opposite wing with 4:30 left in the first half to give the Crusaders their first lead of the game at 23-21.
Davis finished the game shooting 5-of-8 from 3-point range and scored a season-high 27 points for the Crusaders.
"He's a gym rat, he's a shooter," Rothweiler said. "There have been some times in the summer and fall when he just torches people. It was just a matter of time."
Anthony scored seven of the Crusaders' final nine points of the first half. Helias led by as many as six points, but Oxford's Tykel Owens scored a putback off a missed 3 at the buzzer to cut the Crusaders' halftime lead to 34-31.
Oxford tied the game at 34 with a 3-point play of the first possession of the second half, but Davis answered with a 3 on the other end. Helias would hold that lead for the final 15 minutes.
After getting a 10-0 run to take the lead in the second quarter, the Crusaders used an 8-0 run in the third quarter to stretch that lead to 49-39. Anthony, who was 5-of-5 from the floor in the second quarter, capped the run with a banked-in jumper and then a putback. He finished with 21 points and a game-high seven rebounds.
"When he's locked in, you can't guard him," Rothweiler said. "He had 21 points with ease. I didn't even know he had that many, they were easy buckets."
Oxford cut the lead to 49-42 after three quarters, but Helias used a 9-0 run to build its lead back to 60-42 midway through the fourth quarter.
Oxford entered the game averaging 73.6 points. Friday's performance was the Chargers' second-lowest offensive output of the season.
"I'm ecstatic about where our defense is at right now," Rothweiler said. "I knew we'd be good defensively. I didn't know we would be this good, this early."
Kylan Blackmon and Owens each had 17 points to lead Oxford. JJ Pegues, an Auburn football signee, added 16 points and made three 3s.
"We didn't know he was going to step out and knock down two easy 3s," Rothweiler said of Pegues, a 6-foot-3, 270-pound senior. "We did a good job and adjusted to him."
Helias has won 10 of its last 12 first-round games in the Classic.
"Last year, we were on the loser's bracket side," Rothweiler said. "You can lose a close game in the first round and have two more tough games in the loser's bracket. You don't want that."
Helias (5-1) will face Father Tolton (6-1) in the semifinals at 7 p.m. today. The last time these two teams met in the Classic was the 2015 championship game, when Michael Porter Jr. knocked down a 3 in the closing seconds to give the Trailblazers a 54-51 win and their only Classic title.
"Our guys were already talking about that in the locker room," Rothweiler said. "They're friends with the Tolton guys. It's a friendly rivalry, but they're ready."
Oxford (9-6) will play Upper Arlington (Ohio) (5-2) in the loser's bracket semifinals at 4 p.m. today.