ROLLA - It was an off night on the offensive end for the Helias Crusaders.
Their defense, however, showed up in full force.
The Crusaders forced 15 turnovers and limited the Rolla Bulldogs to just 30 shot attempts Tuesday night, advancing in the Class 4 state tournament with a 51-37 sectional victory at Missouri S&T.
"I thought we played outstanding on the defensive end," Helias coach Joe Rothweiler said. "If it weren't for that, we'd be going home.
"You want to see a better offensive output, but credit to Rolla. They took us out of our flow."
Helias (22-6) advances to play Webb City (17-9) in the Class 4 quarterfinals at 2:45 p.m. Saturday at Southwest Baptist in Bolivar. The Cardinals edged Logan-Rogersville for a 58-57 win Tuesday.
The Crusaders never trailed Tuesday, just as they did in their regular-season matchup against Rolla. The Bulldogs were down 7-6 with 2:18 left in the first quarter, but Caleb Justice scored inside for Helias and Malcolm Davis knocked down a 10-footer to give the Crusaders an 11-6 lead after one quarter.
Rolla closed the gap to one point again at 15-14 following a 3-pointer from Colby Shivers. It was one of just seven attempts from 3-point range for the Bulldogs.
"That was our game plan," Rothweiler said. "We had to take them off the 3-point line."
But Helias committed six of its 14 turnovers in the second quarter. The Crusaders led 23-19 at halftime, mostly scoring off Rolla's miscues.
"We turned it over a lot early, uncharacteristically," Rothweiler said. "They were unforced turnovers, and I think that got in our heads."
Many of Helias' turnovers were dead-ball turnovers, while the Crusaders kept the ball in play while turning over Rolla, getting 12 steals.
"Those are the turnovers we try to force," Rothweiler said.
Before the game, Rothweiler challenged his players to step it up on the defensive end.
"When we played Boonville, I thought our offense dictated our defense at times, and we didn't play as well on the defensive end," he said. "Tonight, we stayed focused on the defensive end."
Rolla shot 43.3 percent from the floor, but the Bulldogs only had two offensive rebounds. The Crusaders outrebounded the Bulldogs 29-15, grabbing nine boards on the offensive end.
Helias started the scoring in the third quarter with a coast-to-coast layup off a steal by Isaac Johnson. Damon Johanns scored on a putback and Marcus Anthony went coast-to-coast for layup, stretching the lead to 29-21 with 5:14 left in the third.
The Crusaders led 33-25 at the end of the third quarter, limiting the Bulldogs to six points in a quarter for the second time in the game. Then the Helias offense found its flow in the fourth quarter.
Helias beat Rolla's press and took advantage of good outlet passes that turned into easy layups. Justice and Anthony combined to score the team's first 12 points of the fourth quarter, building a 45-31 lead with 2:17 to play.
"When we can get out and run, we're good," Rothweiler said. "We can find those guys, and we did a good job of it late."
Anthony led the Crusaders with a game-high 20 points, while Justice finished with 12 points on 6-of-6 shooting.
"That's a great game for Caleb," Rothweiler said. "He shows flashes of doing that all the time. He's really focused and locked in."
However, Helias shot 1-of-14 from 3. Colby LeCuru had the only make at the 5:38 mark of the first quarter.
"I knew it was bad," Rothweiler said. "I didn't know it was that bad."
Trey Brown finished with a team-high 16 points for Rolla (12-17).
"You just have to contest his shots," Rothweiler said. "We have to post a body to him when he catches the ball and make him hit tough shots."
The winner of Saturday's quarterfinal game will play either top-ranked Vashon (23-5) or Kirksville (22-5) in the state semifinals next Thursday in Springfield.
"If we can move into Saturday with some confidence and some experience, we'll get a chance to go to Springfield," Rothweiler said.