Helias and Capital City made the first meeting between the boys basketball teams an enjoyable one to watch.
The Cavaliers had their stroke from deep early, were balanced offensively and got needed bench points.
Meanwhile, Desmond White couldn't be stopped on his drives to the basket and Damon Johanns found ways to get open underneath the basket and used his physicality to lead Helias to an 82-73 victory Thursday night at Rackers Fieldhouse.
"Round one Helias-Capital City, it was definitely a fun game," Helias coach Joe Rothweiler said. "Anytime you put up points like that it makes it fun."
Neither team led by more than seven until the final minute, when the Crusaders were able to get defensive stops and ice the game with free throws. Helias made 8-of-12 at the foul line in the fourth quarter.
"Our whole game plan was to keep to keep two of their guards out of the paint, and they got in there at will for three quarters," Rothweiler said. "We finally started to do a better job of it towards the end and that's what let us spread out the lead a little bit."
Capital City's Ashden Cason splashed in a trio of 3-pointers in the opening quarter, leading to an 18-17 edge after eight minutes of play.
Thomas Kesete tied the game at 26 with a 3 from the top of the key and Corde Brown added a layup during a 9-2 run that resulted in a 32-28 lead for the Cavaliers.
"It obviously helps a lot when you're shooting the ball well," Capital City coach Darrin Young said. "But moving forward, it's one of those things where I've got to do a better job of making an adjustment. They went zone there for a bit and it kind of slowed us down."
Helias answered with a 13-2 run that began with Joe Rembecki driving the lane and delivering a bounce pass to Johanns for an open layup.
Later in the run, Johanns bounced a pass to Rembecki, who converted a three-point play.
Johanns had 20 points and five rebounds, while Rembecki scored seven points and grabbed four boards.
"They've been best friends growing up," Rothweiler said. " They've been playing school ball and Knights basketball and now high school basketball together forever, so they've got that chemistry for sure. They play well together."
Zach Bock and Drew Schmidt joined fellow seniors Johanns and Rembecki in the starting lineup for Senior Night.
"Some of the hardest working kids that we've had come to the program," Rothweiler said. "They've had to battle some adversity because they were behind a class that was so talented last year. They didn't always get on the court as quick as they should have in most years, and they still stuck with it."
White, who scored a game-high 31 points, increased the lead to 41-34 at the 1:21 mark of the second quarter by racing to the basket after a defensive stop.
"We were getting to the rim and Desmond was getting to the rim at will," Rothweiler said. "You'll take layups all day."
Malcolm Davis closed out the first half by throwing up a pass to Johanns for a buzzer-beating layup, making the score 43-38.
"Damon had an incredible game," Rothweiler said. "You expect that on Senior Night out of him. He was a little off to a little bit of a slow start, but then he figured out that it was gonna be his game and he just kind of took over."
Capital City quickly closed a seven-point gap about midway through the third quarter, getting layups from Blake Meredith and Robert Gray before Mitch Renfrow drove through the lane for two points, cutting it to 48-47 at the 3:53 mark.
"You couldn't tell that team didn't have any seniors out there," Young said.
Meredith helped keep Helias from running away by scoring four points in the final 1:21 of the quarter as the Cavaliers trailed 56-55 entering the fourth.
Gray then provided a spark with a swift layup after grabbing a defensive rebound to take a 57-56 lead a minute into the fourth quarter.
And when Helias got its lead back to five after White picked off a pass and went the other way for a layup, freshman Nehemiah Hamilton made a pair of 3s in the next minute to close it to 68-67 with 3:43 remaining.
Hamilton provided nine points off the bench.
"With the intensity of the game and just knowing what we were going to need from a depth standpoint, we decided to err on the side of caution and make sure that we had him in case we needed him, and obviously we did," Young said. "He played well for us tonight. He knocked down some big shots and played some pretty good defense."
White and Davis each answered with a 3-pointer for Helias to help close out the Central Missouri Activities Conference win.
"It comes down to who's going to make the plays that are the winning plays," Young said. "Obviously, Desmond White is a really good player and I think down the stretch he made some really big plays and those obviously hurt us."
Davis finished with 20 points for Helias.
Brown was one of seven Cavaliers to score at least five points, leading with 17 points. Cason scored 15, Meredith had 12, Gray added eight and Renfrow chipped in seven.
Capital City (8-8, 1-3 CMAC) plays Tuesday at Lebanon.
Helias (11-2, 3-0 CMAC) plays today at Father Tolton.
"It's always close and our guys get up for that game," Rothweiler said. "They'll find the juice to get out there tomorrow."
Capital City won Thursday's JV game 51-50. Hamilton scored 16 points, and Kesete and Colby Gates each had 12.
Cale Sappenfield and Cristian Prasad scored 10 points each for Helias.