Helias holds off Battle for 70-65 win in boys basketball

Playing their first conference basketball game in nearly two decades, the Helias Crusaders opened Central Missouri Activities Conference play Thursday by knocking off the league leader.

"I told the guys we're going to celebrate all wins, especially in a year like this," Helias coach Joe Rothweiler said after a 70-65 win against the Battle Spartans at Rackers Fieldhouse. "That's a good team, and they were missing one of their key players, but they had a squad that can definitely compete on the floor."

Helias led by as many as 16 points in the fourth quarter, but Battle ended the game on a 15-4 run in the final 3:14.

"We did some good things, but we definitely didn't play our A game tonight," Rothweiler said.

The first quarter was a high-scoring, back-and-forth battle, with Helias holding a 20-17 lead after eight minutes.

Battle challenged the Helias defense, both inside and on the perimeter. Tristan Meny opened the game with a 3-pointer from the top of the key, and Latrell Lee drove to the basket for a pair of early layups.

"Our game plan was to take away Meny and a couple other guys," Rothweiler said. "But when you work so hard to take away a kid like that, you get hurt on offensive rebounds."

The Helias defense limited Battle to just nine points in the second quarter, holding the lead for the final 24 minutes.

"Our second quarter was by far our best," Rothweiler said. "We were clicking in that quarter."

The Crusaders pulled a page out of the Los Angeles Lakers' "Showtime" playbook during the second quarter. A defensive rebound quickly turned into a transition layup in a matter of a few seconds, as Desmond White broke loose for two layups and Malcolm Davis followed with an easy basket.

That capped an 11-0 run, which stretched the Helias lead to 35-22 with 1:56 left in the first half.

"That 'leaking out' is kind of a skill," Rothweiler said. "Dez is really good at it, and Malcolm is good at it too. They play a lot of basketball and they can read when to do it.

"It's not anything that we put in a playbook, but Dez is just naturally good at it, so we just go with it."

Joe Rembecki knocked down a 3 from the right corner just before half, giving the Crusaders a 40-26 edge at intermission.

But on multiple occasions, Battle closed the gap to four points in the second half.

"We come out of halftime and just looked a little flat," Rothweiler said. "And they came out ready and made a couple plays. Once you give a team a chance like that, they make it a dogfight."

During one possession, Battle scored two baskets while drawing fouls. The Spartans couldn't complete the three-point play on the first attempt with 3:28 to go in the third quarter, but a pair of offensive rebounds kept the possession alive.

Justin Goolsby, who missed the free throw, got the ball back in his hands and scored again while drawing another foul, making the score 49-43.

"They were going after it and they were beating us to the ball," Rothweiler said, as Battle outrebounded Helias 40-33.

The Crusaders got back in the scoring column early in the fourth, as White drained a pair of 3s from the left side of the court. The second 3 pushed the lead to 64-50 with 4:35 to play.

"We've got shooters, and I would even like us to shoot a few more than 19 (shots) from 3," Rothweiler said.

White scored a layup off a pass from Davis with 4:13 left in the game, but that would be the Crusaders' last field goal.

Battle got as close as four points of the lead in the closing seconds.

"We always put on the board that the toughest team wins, and usually that happens," Rothweiler said. "Tonight we won, but I thought they were the tougher team, physically and mentally."

White scored a game-high 27 points and Davis finished with 20 for Helias.

Battle (5-3, 2-1 CMAC) was led by Meny with 22 points. Lee added 14 points and Goolsby and Tay Patrick each had 10 points.

Helias (3-1, 1-0 CMAC) is off until Dec. 28, when it faces Blair Oaks to open the Joe Machens Great 8 Classic at Fleming Fieldhouse.

"We'll figure it out in practice and get after it tomorrow," Rothweiler said. " We haven't had a whole lot of practices with the football guys, but we'll have six or seven practices before we play Blair Oaks."

In the JV game, Battle defeated Helias 59-46.

Cristian Prasad led the Crusaders (2-4) and Cale Sappenfield and Scott Haslag each added eight points.