Big early deficit too much to overcome as Lutheran North falls in Class 3 championship

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Bryce Spiller was overcome with emotion mere moments after the biggest game of his life.

The Lutheran North junior guard scored a team-high 20 points, many of which came as the Crusaders tried to overcome a 16-point deficit early in the second half, but it wasn't quite enough as North fell 56-46 to New Madrid County Central in the Missouri Class 3 boys championship Saturday afternoon at JQH Arena on the campus of Missouri State University.

“It hurts to come all this way just to have it stripped from you,” said Spiller, fighting back tears. “I think (rallying) is just part of our team identity. It's just what we've been doing throughout the season. We're a tough group of guys.”

The Crusaders (20-11) were making their fifth appearance in a state final and fell to 2-3 all-time in those contests.

“This ride has been special. To have a team go from four wins (last season) to a state runner-up is something that I'm blown away by,” North coach Gary Spiller said. “They have the grit, the determination, the resiliency that you hope any team would have. In this game, there were highs and lows, ebbs and flows, and our guys just kept fighting and chipping away.”

Central (24-7) was also making its fifth state final appearance and won its first title since 2001. Veteran coach Lennies McFerren, 74, coached the Eagles to back-to-back state championships in 2000 and 2001 and returned to the Central bench in 2018 after a six-win season hiatus and helmed his 10th state title squad overall.

“To tell you the truth, I didn't know it was that long since New Madrid had been here, but time flies,” McFerren said. “We're just thrilled to death because these young men don't like to lose. They lost seven ballgames this year and I'm telling you right now they still know which seven teams beat them.”

Shooting woes plagued North in the final. The Crusaders shot just 20 percent (5 for 25) in the first half, and although they did bump that up to nearly 52 percent (14 of 27) in the second half, they still finished at 36.5 percent overall.

“It's tough to overcome that slow start, but in our locker room we just talked about belief and talked about some basic Xs and Os, things that we were forgetting,” Gary Spiller said. “I think we got wound up a little bit out of the gate, but we were able to settle in that second half and get back to playing Lutheran North basketball.”

On the other end, the Eagles were lights-out most of the game on offense with a 57.9 percent clip in the first half (11 of 19) and an astounding 72.7 percent in the second half (8 of 11) to finish at 63.3 percent for the game.

Jadis Jones led the way for Central with 20 points, while Brandon Williamson scored 18 points and Brayden Newson added 11 points.

“That's real good,” McFerren said. “I didn't know what it was, but I know (Jones) made a lot of those shots. And that was the game plan. I told them from the beginning we were supposed to get the ball inside and penetrate.”

Down 16 points early in the second half, North finally got its offense going to make it a game, as the Crusaders outscored the Eagles 15-8 in the third quarter to whittle its deficit down to six.

Central tallied the first three points of the second half to bump its lead up to 16, but Davell Long's lay-up fueled a surge of 15 of the next 20 points for North to make it a 34-28 game after three.

A 3-pointer from the left wing by Izy Prude brought the Crusaders to within 39-37 with five minutes to play, but Newson answered with a 3-point play on the other end just 18 seconds later and North would never be that close again.

That and-one started a run of 12 of the next 14 points for the Eagles to put the game on ice down the stretch.

“You've got to control the game,” Jones said. “When you go up big in the first half, you can't come out in the second half thinking the game is over, especially in the third quarter. You've got to continue to play good defense throughout the whole second half.”

Bryce Spiller got the Crusaders off on the right foot with a pull-up jumper just 34 seconds into the game, but it was a struggle for the maroon and gold for the final 15 minutes of the first half.

The Eagles reeled off nine successive points following Spiller's bucket with Jones tallying the first seven points of that run.

North did score the final four points of the first quarter to cut it to 12-9, but Central notched the first six points of the second quarter on its way to a 14-4 advantage in the second eight minutes to carry a 26-13 lead into the halftime locker room.

“I told them earlier in the season that defense wins championships,” McFerren said. “And they played well (defensively).”

The Crusaders' only points of the quarter came on Spiller's 3-pointer just over four minutes in and one of two free throws with two minutes left by Spiller, who accounted for nine of North's 13 points in the first half.

North will lose two senior starters in Long and point guard Jameer Cretter, as well reserves Ike Prude, Marquis Coleman and Kyle Scanlon, but it was a group that helped put the Crusaders back on the map.

“As my coach said, we had four wins last year, so to even be able to have this opportunity to come and play in the state championship game and turn the program around really means something,” Long said. “To leave a mark for the young guys so they can be able to come back here next year and they can close it out.”

Added Cretter, “I'm just thankful for the group of guys that just worked since April and all year long to make it all this way. I'm just proud of us.”

The return of leading scorer Bryce Spiller, as well starters AJ Newton and Berry Benson and key reserves Izy Prude and Jai Smith give hope to another possible state run next season.

“We will be back,” Gary Spiller said. “We've got a great young core of guys coming back. People saw some of our sophomores on display this weekend and they really stepped up. And our freshmen group is tough. So, Lutheran North basketball is back. I think people hopefully won't look past us anymore.”