Saxony Lutheran proved the ungracious host.

The Crusaders boys basketball team jumped out to a 19-point lead at halftime and cruised to a 53-22 victory against St. Vincent to win their own tournament Saturday.

"I've never been more pleased with our effort on the defensive end than I was tonight," Saxony coach John Daniel said.

Bret Steffens scored 27 points in the title game to lead Saxony.

"He's a 6 [foot] 4 point guard and I've never had that in high school before, so he can do a lot of different things," Daniel said. "He hit one 3 and went 12-for-13 from the line. He's tough to guard."

St. Vincent coach Bruce Valleroy came away impressed by Steffens.

"He's very tough," he said. "He does a good job penetrating, but they'll also post him up down low. When you fouled him, you were pretty much were giving up two points because he sure can shoot free throws."

Austin Kwikkel added six points and a team-high 14 rebounds.

Saxony hit 88 percent (15-of-17) on its free-throw attempts.

The Crusaders (8-2) limited Justin L'Hote to four points, a point of emphasis for Saxony.

"We really wanted to focus on pressuring Justin L'Hote on his way up the court because he's really an outstanding leader for their team," Daniel said.

Josh Rollet led the Indians with six points and 11 rebounds.

"We really didn't shoot the ball well tonight," Valleroy said. "We missed a lot of easy shots early there."

In the third-place game, Zalma crushed Valle Catholic 83-68. The Bulldogs opened a 13-point at halftime and held on for the victory.

Colton Bailey scored a game-high 31 points, while Justin Lemons added 21.

Marquand beat Christ Our Savior Lutheran 51-30 in the fifth-place game.

Steffens, Saxony's Ben Courtois, L'Hote, Rollet and Bailey made up the all-tournament team.

Championship game

SAXONY LUTHERAN 53, ST. VINCENT 22

St. Vincent 2 6 10 4 -- 22

Saxony 10 17 14 12 -- 53

Saxony Lutheran (53) -- Zach Bohnert 3, Ben Courtois 6, Austin Kwikkel 6, Garrett Ruppel 3, Max Wieser 6, Chris Roth 2, Bret Steffens 27. FG 18, FT 15-17, F 15 (3-pointers: Steffens 1, Ruppel 1. Fouled out: None).

St. Vincent (22) -- Justin L'Hote 4, Aaron Dzik 4, Josh Rollet 6, Matt Abbott 2, Matt Hotop 2, Kyle Rollet 2, Shawn Renner 2. FG 11, FT 0-3, F 16 (3-pointers: none. Fouled out: none)

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Third-place game

ZALMA 83, VALLE 68

Zalma 18 20 23 22 -- 83

Valle 13 12 22 21 -- 68

Zalma (83) -- Travis Mergel 5, Steven Simmers 6, Colton Bailey 31, Nick Smith 2, Justin Lemons 21, Kevin Walker 4, Liam Shaw 3, Jeremy Rodgers 9, Justin Stotts 2. FG 33, FT 15-23, F 16 (3-pointers: Mergel, Shaw. Fouled out: None)

Valle (68) -- Oberle 13, Koller 7, Weiler 3, Rozier 22, Roth 15, Baumer 3. FG 20, FT 16-21, F 16 (3-pointers: Oberle 3, Koller 1, Weiler 1, Rozier 4, Roth 1, Baumer 1. Fouled out: None).

GIRLS SWIMMINGPoplar Bluff 114, St. Vincent 96, Saxony Lutheran 70

St. Vincent's Sarah DeWilde ended the day with two first-place individual finishes and helped the 200 freestyle relay to victory.

DeWilde won the 100 freestyle and 100 breaststroke. Teammates Anna Esswein won the 50 freestyle, while Maria Esswein took first in the 200 individual medley.

Tonya Scholl had a pair of second-place finishes -- in the 200 freestyle and 50 freestyle -- to lead the Crusaders.

Team results -- Poplar Bluff 114, St. Vincent 96, Saxony Lutheran 70.

Individual results

200 medley relay -- 1. Poplar Bluff (Lauren Decker, Hannah Crites, Jade Floyd, Annie Lampe), 2:42.00; 2. St. Vincent, 2:54.36; 3. Saxony Lutheran, 3:00.23.

200 freestyle -- 1. Nancy Sorrell, PB, 3:04.60; 2. Tonya Scholl, SL, 3:07.65; 3. Hannah DeWilde, St.V, 3:13.03.

200 individual medley -- 1. Maria Esswein, St.V, 3:11.74; 2. Madison Rau, SL, 3:18.20; 3. Crites, PB, 3:19.58.

50 freestyle -- 1. Anna Esswein, St.V, 36.23; 2. Scholl, SL, 38.43; 3. Hillary Webb, PB, 39.56.

100 butterfly -- 1. Floyd, PB, 1:33.09; 2. Lizz Bueckner, St.V, 1:34.14; 3. Annie Lampe, PB, 1:45.34.

100 freestyle -- 1. Sarah DeWilde, St.V, 1:20.87; 2. Jackie LeGrand, PB, 1:24.75; 3. Kristin Mattingly, St.V, 1:30.85.

400 freestyle -- Decker, PB, 5:57.01; 2. M. Esswein, St.V, 6:10.74; 3. Sorrell, PB, 6:52.24.

200 freestyle relay -- 1. St. Vincent (Brueckner, A. Esswein, S. DeWilde, M. Esswein), 2:25.48; 2. Poplar Bluff, 2:31.81; 3. Poplar Bluff, 2:50.62.

100 backstroke -- 1. Decker, PB, 1:24.24; 2. Rau, SL, 1:28.26; 3. H. DeWilde, St.V, 1:52.34.

100 breaststroke -- 1. S. DeWilde, St.V, 1:33.83; 2. Mattingly, St.V, 1:45.17; 3. Katie Winter, SL, 1:46.02.

400 freestyle relay -- 1. Poplar Bluff (Crites, Floyd, Sorrell, LeGrand), 5:43.82; 2. Saxony Lutheran, 5:52.42; 3. Poplar Bluff, 7:04.90.

-- From staff reports