PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Saxony Lutheran boys basketball coach Kevin Williams was more than willing to give his players the entire weekend away from the hardwood following the Crusaders' game against Perryville on Friday night.

His players, however, were quick to turn their focus on improvement following their 60-43 defeat of the Pirates at Perryville High School. Saxony remained unbeaten at 7-0 with the win.

"They're like, 'No, we want to go Sunday, coach, even if it's just a shootaround.' Those are the kind of kids I've got," said Williams, who is in his first season with the Crusaders. "They don't want to not be in the gym. They'd go back and practice right now if we could. That's when it's fun. They're a special group."

Saxony handed Perryville its first loss of the season. The Pirates dropped to 5-1.

Perryville, which had averaged 68 points through its first five wins, shot 45 percent from the floor, but was just 2 of 8 from beyond the arc. Still, the Pirates managed to keep it close through the early goings of the fourth quarter.

"It was an ugly game for us. We did not play very good," Perryville coach Justin Dreyer said. "Coming into this year with the way we've been playing and the way we played this summer, if you'd have ever told me we would've been held under 50 points I would've been shocked. We just didn't shoot the ball very well and had too many careless turnovers."

Saxony held a 16-13 advantage at the end of the first quarter and led 29-22 at halftime.

Perryville's McGwire Bartley takes a shot as Saxony Lutheran's Jalen Williams defends during the third quarter Friday, Dec. 18, 2015 in Perryville, Missouri. (Fred Lynch)

The Pirates opened the second half on a 6-1 run to cut it to 30-28 with 4 minutes, 20 seconds left in the third. William Rogers knocked down his fourth 3-pointer of the game 14 seconds later to push the lead back to five.

Saxony was up 35-30 going into the final eight minutes of the game.

After Perryville's Aaron Mueller got a steal and scored 10 seconds into the fourth to cut it to three the Crusaders went on a 17-4 run to break the game open.

"He just told us to play our game, and that's what we did," Saxony's Graeson Meystedt said of his coach's message going into the fourth.

Meystedt scored eight of his 17 points in the fourth quarter.

Corie Williams scored eight of his nine points in the fourth quarter. He knocked down his first field goal of the game -- a 3-pointer from the top of the key -- with 4:10 left to push the Saxony lead to nine. Perryville answered with a quick basket, but Williams made a jumper from the top of the key to push the lead back to nine. That shot began a 9-0 spurt for the Crusaders as they pushed the lead to double figures.

"I finally found some confidence and I started shooting it, and I was like, 'No, I'm not going to let my teammates down,'" Corie Williams said. "After I started making shots then my teammates confidence got up as well and we started getting closer and closer towards the win."

Saxony shot 43 percent in the game, knocking down nine 3s. Rogers, who knocked down three treys in the first half, finished with a game-high 18 points. Jalen Williams added 10 and hit a pair of 3s.

Saxony Lutheran's William Rogers shoots between Perryville's Ryan Noland, left, and Aaron Mueller during the second quarter Friday, Dec. 18, 2015 in Perryville, Missouri. (Fred Lynch)

"They're starting to play like a family," coach Williams said. "They don't care who gets the credit, they move the ball to the open guy. There's very few selfish plays, and that's when you can be really good, especially when you've got four guys who at any time can all hit the 3. What do you take away?"

Williams is trying to get his guys to love playing defense as much as they love to score the basketball and was pleased with the progress his players made with that on Friday. Saxony kept Perryville out of rhythm by throwing multiple defenses -- from a man-to-man to a half-court zone trap to a 2-2-1 press -- at the Pirates.

McGwire Bartley and Aaron Mueller finished in double figures for Perryville with 14 and 10 points, respectively.

"That's tough for any team, the Saxony head man said. "It's tough for us when people change defenses, especially at the high school level. But they're starting to understand it and they can change on the fly, and that means they're locked in and their concentration's good."

The Crusaders are slated to play at Egyptian (Illinois) Tuesday night. Perryville plays Festus on Saturday.

"Perryville, they're a good basketball team. They're tough as heck," Williams said. "They didn't give us anything. We worked for everything we got and they scrapped all night long. They're going to beat a whole lot of people this year."

Saxony 16 13 6 25 -- 60

Perryville 13 9 8 13 -- 43

SAXONY (60) -- William Rogers 18, Graeson Meystedt 17, Jalen Williams 10, Corie Williams 9, Keevin Dyke 2, Nathan Ruark 2, Tyler Swanks 2. FG 22-51, FT 7-12, F 9. (3-pointers: Rogers 4, Meystedt 2, J. Williams 2, C. Williams 1. Fouled out: none.)

Perryville (43) -- McGwire Bartley 14, Aaron Mueller 10, Conner Stark 5, Wyatt Johnson 5, Josh Robinson 4, Austin Mueller 3, Garrett Johnson 2. FG 18-40, FT 5-7, F 15. (3-pointers: Bartley 1, Stark 1. Fouled out: Stark.)