The first five minutes could not have gone much better for Lausanne Collegiate or much worse for Jefferson City.
The Jays finally got shots to fall and played tough defensively the rest of the way, but they never put together the needed run in a 60-52 loss to the Lynx on Saturday in the semifinals of the Joe Machens Great 8 Classic at Fleming Fieldhouse.
"We fought, we competed," Jefferson City assistant coach Brian Center said. "Some balls didn't go in. Then we'd get a little run and they'd make a play at the other end that would negate any momentum that we had. We just couldn't get a string of baskets to go in."
The loss sets up a crosstown showdown between Jefferson City and Helias in the third-place game. The Jays (4-4) and Crusaders (5-2) are scheduled to tip off at 5:30 p.m. today.
"We're looking forward to it," Center said. "It's going to be exciting for everyone to watch."
Lausanne (Tenn.) advances to take on Father Tolton at 7 p.m. today in the championship game.
The Trailblazers defeated the Crusaders 67-37 in the other winner's bracket semifinal Friday.
Lausanne scored the game's first 13 points, capped off by a Lynx steal and Johnathan DeJurnett basket at the 2:58 mark of the opening quarter.
"We kind of dug ourselves a hole there and stayed there the whole game," Center said.
The Jays began to find the bottom of the net after that as Kevin Fisher came off the bench to drain a 3-pointer.
Sterling DeSha made two 3s from the corner in the final two minutes of the quarter to pull within 16-9.
Fisher, who had seven rebounds, and DeSha each scored nine points.
"He's an energy guy," Center said of Fisher. "He's starting to find his role and he can do a lot for us. He can help us a lot down the stretch."
After Jefferson City got within five, Lausanne stretched it to 15 with a 13-3 run, capped off by a second-chance bucket by 7-foot center Moussa Cisse.
Keith Driver and Ben Folz each made a 3 after that to help cut the deficit to 31-20 at halftime.
"When you have (Cisse) sitting inside, he can erase kind of anything that comes that way," Center said. "You just can't go in there and shoot layups. We wanted to go at him, get him to help and kick out. We did a decent job at it, we just didn't make enough shots."
The Jays finished 8-of-22 from 3-point range.
Cisse, a day after dunking 11 times in a 26-point performance against Blair Oaks, was held to 17 points on 8-of-15 shooting.
Cisse did have a game-high 12 rebounds and five blocks.
"We wanted to be a little physical with him," Center said. "Not push him or anything, but we wanted to make sure we had a body on him so he couldn't just take off and run and jump over everybody. I think we did a pretty decent job of it."
Cisse had to sit the final :38.2 after being called for a flagrant foul after Folz wrapped him up for a foul.
Lausanne missed its two free throws while Brennan Jeffries, who led the Jays with 14 points, made his two at the line to make it 57-48.
The Jays got within 57-50 thanks to a pair of Kaidyn Johnson free throws and 58-52 on a Jeffries layup, but it was too late.
The Lynx added two free throws with a tenth of a second on the clock to make the final margin eight points.
Folz fouled out of the game, but tallied 11 points and a team-high 10 rebounds.
"He's a worker. He's going to get after it," Center said. "He's going to be physical and be aggressive and dive after balls."
Lausanne had three players score in double figures, including Antonio Dilworth with 11 and Hayden Ledbetter with 10.