Helias dominates after slow start to beat Jays

The Helias bench reacts late in Tuesday night's win against Jefferson City at Fleming Fieldhouse.
The Helias bench reacts late in Tuesday night's win against Jefferson City at Fleming Fieldhouse.

It was all Jefferson City. Then it was all Helias. Then it was back and forth.

It had the makings of a typical Crosstown Showdown. It was all but that.

The Crusaders scored 14 straight points in the second quarter and didn't let up in a 66-40 win Tuesday at Fleming Fieldhouse.

"Sometimes you get hot like that early, it's almost a detriment," Helias coach Joe Rothweiler said after Helias' seventh straight win against Jefferson City. "It's happened to us before. You hit a bunch of shots early and then it just doesn't go the same the whole game. Our guys did a good job of just keeping their composure and just fighting back in it possession by possession."

The Jays scored the game's first 10 points, forcing three turnovers in the first two minutes.

Kaidyn Johnson got open in the corner for a 3-pointer after a Brenden Hoener steal. Ben Folz followed with back-to-back 3s - one from each corner - after two more Helias turnovers.

Hoener made 1-of-2 at the free-throw line at the 4:56 mark to make it 10-0.

"We've had a habit of getting off the bad starts and we have to fix that," Rothweiler said. "Because we've done that they've learned how to fight back into games. But like I said, it can't be a crutch that we lean on and think we can just jump back in the game whenever we're down."

The Jays' first 10 points came in three minutes. Their next 11 points took seven minutes to score.

"I told them there's about three minutes there of bad shots," Jays coach Tony Phillips said, "and then we start taking some good shots and we missed a ton in the middle of the lane."

It also didn't help the Jays had to go without Brennan Jeffries, who leads the team averaging 17.5 points per game, for nearly the entire contest.

Jeffries, who didn't attempt a shot, injured a finger going after a loose ball in the first quarter and could only play the beginning of the third quarter after that.

Jeffries led the Jays to a 1-1 record two weeks ago in the weather-shortened Kaminsky Classic in Joplin, making the all-tournament team.

"He makes them go," Rothweiler said. "That's a huge factor. They still have plenty of weapons and we did a good job of taking Sterling (DeSha) out of his comfort zone and some other guys. Our guys really just stuck to the scouting report defensively."

DeSha averages 16.3 points per game but was held to 10 points on 5-of-20 shooting.

Jeff Szumigala pulled Helias within 12-10 at the end of the first quarter with a corner 3.

A Johnson layup put the Jays ahead 14-12 with 7:18 left in the first half. Johnson led the Jays with 12 points.

The 14-0 run began at the 5:38 mark when Marcus Anthony got a steal and Isaac Johnson dropped in a floater.

An Anthony jumper and a Malcolm Davis steal and layup followed and the Crusaders were off and running.

Anthony scored a game-high 22 points, making 8-of-10 at the free-throw line, and grabbed six rebounds.

"Marcus did a good job of really getting us out of that funk because we were having trouble scoring the ball," Rothweiler said. "He got a couple baskets that got us going. And then from there, Malcolm Davis started to hit some shots and it just kind of flowed."

With 2:48 left in the half, Desmond White collected the ball after it bounced off another player and drained a 3 to finish the run with a 26-14 lead.

"That's the way we play," Rothweiler said. "We we try to get after people and get some easy buckets like that and not have to play as much half court offense."

Helias went into the locker room up 32-19 and outscored the Jays 20-8 in the third quarter to put the game away.

Davis got his hands on a pass and ended the possession with a 3 from the corner for a 43-21 lead at the 4:44 mark of the third quarter.

It was one of 20 Jefferson City turnovers.

"We knew we wanted to get after them and trap them a little bit and try to to speed them up and not let them run anything that they want to run," Rothweiler said.

Davis made three 3s on his way to 13 points.

Helias held a 33-26 edge in rebounds, led by Caleb justice's 11 boards.

Helias (9-2) will host Father Tolton, ranked second in Class 3 by the Missouri Basketball coaches association, on Friday at Rackers Fieldhouse.

The freshman game will start at 4:30 p.m., the JV contest will begin around 6 p.m. and the varsity will tip off around 7:30 p.m.

Jefferson City (6-7) is also back at home Friday when it hosts Parkview. The freshman game will start at 4:30 p.m. with the JV and varsity games to follow.

"Come back and go to work tomorrow," Phillips said.

In the JV game, Aaron Klahr made a jumper in the final seconds to earn Helias a 44-43 win.

Klahr scored 17 points and Noah Voss added 15 points for the Crusaders.

Koby Sands led the Jays with 11 points.

Jefferson City won the freshman game 69-45.

Robert Gray led a group of four double-digit scorers for the Jays with 15 points, Cole Heller scored 14 points, Steven Samuels added 13 points and Ryan Spraggs contributed 12 points.

Colby Gates led Helias with 15 points.