Saxony Lutheran falls to Notre Dame on homecoming

For Saxony Lutheran boys coach Justin Callahan and his team is was the same old story.
Saxony failed to make shots in crunch time, especially in the extra period as the Crusaders fell to Notre Dame 57-50 in overtime on Friday, spoiling the Saxony homecoming.
“We played hard,” Callhan said of his team. “We are 10-6 and all six of the losses, we have been right there. We haven’t been able to step up in the fourth quarter and make plays. It always seems llike the game is right there for us and then all the sudden it gets away from us.”
It looked like Friday would be different for Saxony as they battled back from a six-point deficit with four minutes left in regulation.
Timely free throws by Brayden Moore and Owen Buchheit and others allowed Saxony to stay close, despite poor shooting from both teams in the game. Notre Dame’s Brett Dohogne missed one of two throws in the final five seconds to give Saxony hope late down 47-45 in the waning moments. Saxony senior Luke Eggemeyer got loose on the ensuing inbounds play and scored a lay-up with less than one second left in regulation, tying the game at 47-47.
Saxony senior John Hartmann scored to tie the game at 49-49 in the opening minute of the overtime period, but that was it for the Crusaders.
Saxony scored just one point the rest of the game, being outscored 10-3 in overtime.
“We had so many chances that we were not able to captialize on,” Callahan said.
Eggemeyer had 18 for the Crusaders to lead Saxony in scoring, while Hartmann had 17. Buchheit added six points in the game.

The last three minutes of the game for Saxony were a theme for the Crusaers throughout the evening.
Saxony could not get anything going offensively throughout the contest. Neither team could for that matter. Saxony made its first shot of the game three minutes into first quarter on a putback from Wes Kiehne to narrow the Notre Dame lead to 4-3.
Points were hard to come by for the Crusaders and Bulldogs, especially in the first half.
Hartmann made a three-pointer with 2:40 left in the quarter to give Saxony a 8-6 lead. That was the last points for the Crusaders in the quarter.
Saxony did not make another field goal until a lay-up p by Buchheit with 2:10 left before the half.
Despite the field goal drought, Saxony still led 13-10 at the time.
Hartmann made a lay-up at the halftime buzzer to give Saxony a 19-14 lead at the break.
“You have to credit some of the defense in the first half, but both teams were missing shots,” Callahan said. “Neither team could get anything going. It was just the little things that we need to get better at. There were times where we could have made our lead bigger, but we turned the ball over or something like that, which can’t happen against good teams”
One of those little things is the shooting from beyond the arc for the Crusaders. Saxony went 4-23 from the three-point line, which Callahan said is a continuation of Saxony’s last game in the Chester Tournament where Saxony went 1-9.
“Can’t do that against good teams,” he said. “We have to get back in the gym and work on some things.”