Crusaders win 8th Grade Logan County Boys Basketball Championship

[January 23, 2015]  LINCOLN - The Crusaders defeated West Lincoln-Broadwell 32-20 Thursday night to win the 8th Grade Logan County Basketball Championship. The Crusaders are a team made up of members from Carroll Catholic, New Holland-Middletown and Zion Lutheran Schools.

The playoffs were held at the Jack D. Nutt Arena on the campus of Lincoln College.

The Crusaders jumped out to a 9-5 first quarter lead thanks to five points from Brayton Brown and four points from Peyton Batley. Wolverine Kaden Froebe had all five points in the first quarter for West Lincoln-Broadwell.

Following a free throw early in the second quarter by Brayton Brown, neither team could buy a basket for what seemed like an eternity. Finally at the 1:43 mark Brown stole the ball for the Crusaders and his layup was good for the 12-5 Crusaders lead. Brown would go on to connect for two more points for Crusaders in the second quarter and extend the lead to 14-5. By the time the halftime buzzer sounded Brown had accounted for all of the scoring in the second quarter, as West Lincoln-Broadwell just could not get the lid off the basket.
 

Denver Hoffert, the man in the middle for the Crusaders, scored the first bucket of the third quarter and it was beginning to look like Crusaders might run away with this one, leading 16-5. It was Kameron Whiteman who finally managed to pry the lid off the basket for the Wolverines and he cut the lead to 16-7 with 4:45 remaining in the third quarter. Dylan Singleton quickly answered back with two points at the other end of the court and the Crusaders held on to a comfortable 18-7 lead. Back to back threes by Brown and Drew Singleton would give Crusaders an even bigger lead at 24-7. The Wolverines kept fighting back though and consecutive baskets by Kade Schmidt and Froebe narrowed the lead to 24-11. Brown dialed from long distance one more time for the Crusaders before the end of the third quarter and despite a couple free throws from the Wolverines' Shane Shumard, Crusaders still held a nice 27-13 lead over West Lincoln-Broadwell.

Never count those Wolverines out too early, though. The fourth quarter saw a determined bunch from the west side of Lincoln give it their best shot. The Wolverines ran off seven consecutive points with baskets from Froebe and Shumard and with just 2:50 left to play, the score was 27-20 and needless to say the game was intense for these young men on the court. Following a three-second lane violation on Crusaders it was beginning to look like the momentum was really shifting to the Wolverines.

West Lincoln-Broadwell, however, just could not stop the Crusaders' Brown. He managed to steal the ball at the 2:00 mark and go all the way for the layup, extending the lead to 29-20. Once the Crusaders regained possession of the ball they managed to successfully run some time off the clock before finding Batley all alone near the basket and he drove in for a nice little layup and Crusaders led 31-20. Brown would make the final point on a free throw and seal the county championship for the Crusaders, 32-20.

Brown finished with an impressive 19 points for the Crusaders. Froebe led the Wolverines with 12 points.

The Crusaders improve to 10-8 on the season. The Crusaders are coached by Andy Fitzpatrick and Richie Singleton. West Lincoln-Broadwell is coached by Terry Biggs and Dan Horn.

Congratulations to the Crusaders!

Crusaders scoring:
Brayton Brown 19
Peyton Batley 6
Drew Singleton 3
Dylan Singleton 2
Denver Hoffert 2

West Lincoln-Broadwell scoring:
Kaden Froebe 12
Shane Shumard 4
Kameron Whiteman 2
Kade Schmidt 2

[Teena Lowery]