Crusaders Too Much for Bruin Boys

January 12, 2023

The Bruin boys handed the Lakeview Honkers a loss last Saturday afternoon to get their first win of the season and looked to build on that as they hosted the 2-0 St. Mary’s Crusaders Wednesday evening.

Junior forward, Austin Dietrich, #33, driving outside for 2 of his 4 points in the game.

St. Mary’s, coming off a big win over Rogue River was looking to do the same and continue their two game win streak and came out defensively to shut down the Bruin offense, allowing only two Bruins in the scoring column early. St. Mary’s spread their 17 first quarter points around to five players and took an early 7-17 lead into the second period.

Senior point guard, Josh Serna, #32, with the short range jumper, led all Bruin scorers hitting for 15 points, and going 7 for 8 from the free throw line.

The Bruins had trouble in the paint early on as the Crusaders allowed Bruin shooters one shot, sweeping the boards for rebounds off missed shots and breaking out of the turnover. The Bruin defense applied light pressure as the Crusaders advanced the ball over mid court, allowing St. Mary’s to get into their offense. Four Bruins combined for all of the Bruins 8 points in the period as the Crusaders added 13 more points to their already 10 point lead to end the first half of play.

Senior Kallen Christensen, #1, starting the Bruin offense, had 3 points on the night.

Junior guard, Wyatt Harms, #5, driving into the paint for the shot.

Trailing 15-30 to start the third period, senior Josh Serna, #32, led Bruin scorers in the period, but the cold shooting for the Bruin boys would allow the Crusaders to run on the Bruin defense. Three Crusaders combined to score all of St. Mary’s 12 points in the third period of play as the Crusaders continued to extend their lead even further.

Junior forward, Kyler Christensen, #2, inside for 2 of his 5 points, also hit a 3 point shot in the fourth quarter.

Sophomore Talan Pryor, driving inside for 2 points, also went 2 for 4 from the line.

Going into the fourth quarter trailing 21-42, the Bruins had the best scoring period of the game getting to the foul line 8 times and hitting a Kyler Christensen 3 pointer for 10 points, outscoring the Crusaders in the final period. However it would be St. Mary’s who would leave with a 31-50 win.