After working on their up-tempo and transition play this week in practice, the Calvary Lutheran Lions put it to the test Saturday against the fast and furious Kansas City Lutheran Knights.
At first, the speedy pace favored the Knights. But once the Lions began to break the press and attack the basket, it was in the bag as they won 86-65 on Senior Day.
"They stayed disciplined, they kind of stayed under control," Calvary coach Beau Monson said. "We were able to break it pretty easy and get some easy buckets out of it."
The Knights led 46-40 with 1:06 remaining in the first half after Knights forward Mark Melton put in a jumper off a second offensive rebound.
Then the game shifted in favor of the Lions.
Layups from Kyle Hagemeyer and Jonathan Lieb tied it at 44 and Lieb gave the Lions the lead on another layup in the closing seconds of the half.
Hagemeyer and Morgan Allen combined for 10 points in the first 2:30 of the second half to get the margin to double digits at 56-46.
Allen scored a game-high 25 points and tied Lieb for a team-high eight rebounds. Hagemeyer scored 19 points and grabbed six boards.
"We switched to a man and it seemed to throw them off a little bit," Monson said. " One reason why we kind of went to that is to try and kind of keep them off the boards."
Calvary went on a 12-1 run late in the third quarter, including four of Kwesi Hall's 10 points to make it 68-51 at the 2:04 mark of the third quarter.
A Going steal and a Hall lob to Allen for a layup plus a Going layup following an Allen steal closed out the scoring in the third quarter, resuling in a 72-55 lead for Calvary.
Going finished with 17 points.
"They ran well in transition, their conditioning was great, I didn't see anybody winded out there," Monson said. "We had a solid nine-man rotation and were able to play all nine guys and trust who we had out there."
Calvary seniors Going, Jack Schmoeger, Will Struttmann and Allen were honored following the game.
Struttmann had three points and four rebounds, and Monson credited the point guard for creating offense for teammates.
"That was part of what kind of pushed our offense there was just his composure with the ball, the way he got the ball up the court and kind of pushed it on those transition buckets," Monson said.
Calvary Lutheran (6-2) has the South Callaway Tournament next on the schedule. The Lions are the No. 6 seed and will take on No. 3 seed New Haven at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Calvary defeated Kansas City Lutheran 53-43 in the JV game. Alex Roettgen scored 13 points and Jaxson Jobe had 12.