~ Saxony Lutheran rallied from a five-point deficit in the fourth quarter and beat Scott City 59-54 in the Class 3 District 3 final

Unlike the district semifinals, there was no late hero Thursday night for Saxony Lutheran.

In its place was a team that clawed its way back from a fourth-quarter deficit to overtake Scott City 59-54 and claim the Class 3 District 3 crown.

The Crusaders battled back from a 46-41 deficit with just less than six minutes to go and made enough big plays down the stretch to hold off the Rams.

"We just picked it up a notch," Saxony coach Sam Sides said. "We played a little harder and got some breaks. We made a couple big plays and got a couple rebounds we weren't getting earlier. We got some stops and they missed some shots they'd been hitting. So it was just a combination of things, but basically kids just stepped up and made some big plays when they needed to."

Saxony Lutheran players celebrate their win over Scott City in the Class 3 District 3 title game Thursday at Saxony Lutheran. The Crusaders won 59-54. (Fred Lynch)

Trailing by five points, Saxony (15-13) started its climb.

Matt Wills buried a 3-pointer and added a basket inside to tie the game. Trent Steffens then beat his defender off the dribble and hit a layup to put the Crusaders ahead 48-46.

Scott City (10-16) regained the lead on three consecutive free throws. Saxony countred with a pair of free throws, but Brock scored on a layup to put the Rams ahead 53-50.

Saxony responded.

Clay Roth and Steffens hit back-to-back layups to regain a one point advantage. Jesse Sanders' free throw tied it at 54-54, but Gus Klaus scored on a layup to break the deadlock with 48 seconds remaining.

The Rams had a chance to tie or take the lead, but the Crusaders forced a turnover at the top of the key and Gabriel Bohnert hit one of two free throws to put Saxony up 57-54 with less than 20 seconds remaining.

Scott City had one final chance, but Landon Robert's 3-point attempt hit front iron and Saxony celebrated.

"It seemed like anything that could go wrong went wrong," Scott City coach Mark Dannenmueller said. "They just stepped up and made some plays. Me, personally, I didn't do a good job getting us in position to win. We didn't play very well, and I didn't coach very well in that fourth quarter."

Sides used several players throughout the game and often rotated his lineup in the final period to keep his players fresh.

"I tried to rotate a few more players this time than I had the past few games," Sides said. "The kids came off the bench and picked it up a little bit. We got some fresh legs out there and got some steals and put some pressure on them. District play is tough. It's emotional. Everybody has to lift the level of play a little bit, and I thought we did that."

Scott City jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the first quarter and looked right at home in Saxony's gym, but that quickly changed.

Sanders and Hunter Cox, both starters for the Rams, picked up their second fouls in the first quarter and sat the remainder of the half.

"It kind of throws things off a little bit," Dannenmueller said. "We got off to a hot start and kind of [got in] a little groove there, and then you get in foul trouble and get two of your starters out and your rhythm goes."

Saxony locked down its defense after the hot start, forcing the Rams into 5 of 15 shooting in the first quarter.

"We changed defenses early," Sides said. "We were afraid to move and get out there and play. I think they made the first three or four shots they took. We went man-to-man after that and just tried to play as hard as we can.

"Matt Wills did a great job on Cotner, who's a great player, and we tried to slow him down a little bit. We tried to cover their 3-point shooters the best we could, but they had some kids step up inside that hurt us a little bit. Mainly we tried to take them away from what they were trying to do."

The Crusaders trailed 17-14 midway through the second quarter but used a 10-1 spurt to help propel them to a 28-25 halftime lead.

"We were pretty resilient," Dannenmueller said. "Other than that, I didn't think we played particularly well. We played well defensively, but we didn't make many shots. We weren't patient. We weren't getting good shots. We were settling for outside shots instead of getting the ball inside like we wanted to. But the kids, to their credit, kept fighting. They didn't give in."

Scott City took control in the third quarter behind an unlikely source.

Backup forward Ryan Fortner scored eight of his 10 points in the period, hitting all four of his shots.

"Coming out of halftime we kind of knew we could get the ball inside, and we knew that he was a big strong body and he's a pretty good scorer down low," Dannenmueller said. "I just felt let's go with him and see how it goes.

"He does an excellent job of using his body. He posts up strong and keeps his hands up and catches, and he uses his body extremely well. He was playing like a good post player does."

The Rams forged ahead 38-32 behind back-to-back Fortner buckets and took a 44-39 advantage into the fourth quarter.

"We had a couple turnovers back-to-back and they hit a couple shots," Sides said. "This is the kind of game that swings back and forth pretty quick. It's just a momentum deal. You can't get your head down. You got to keep plugging because it can change in a heartbeat. One big play and it can go the other way, and that's what happened."

Saxony 10 18 11 20 -- 59

Scott City 12 13 19 10 -- 54

SAXONY (59) -- Brayton Klaus 14, Trent Steffens 6, Kristopher Cook 4, Clayton Carver 6, Clay Roth 6, Matt Wills 5, Shawn Hadler 3, Gabriel Bohnert 11, Nic Johnson 4. FG 22, FT 12-21, F 20. (3-pointers: Carver 2, Wills. Fouled out: none.)

SCOTT CITY (54) -- Logan Henson 3, Landon Robert 5, Jesse Sanders 7, Hunter Cox 2, Justin Modglin 4, Zachary Cotner 10, Corey Rogers 4, Ryan Fortner 10, Ryan Brock 9. FG 21, FT 10-19, F 20. (3-pointers: Sanders, Modglin. Fouled out: none.)