COLONY — Crest High boys’ head coach Travis Hermreck thought he was watching a rerun from 24 hours earlier.
Much like they did against Chetopa on Monday, Crest found itself Tuesday trailing heading into the fourth quarter against visiting Marais Des Cygnes Valley.
And just like they did previously, the Lancers responded on defense.
Crest erased a five-point deficit heading into the final period before ending the game with a 13-5 run.
Crest’s resulting 37-34 win gave the Lancers a 13-6 record heading into their regular season finale. Crest hosts St. Paul on Thursday to wrap up the regular season before beginning Class 1A Division 1 substate action.
“It was an almost exact carbon copy of the Chetopa game,” Hermreck said. “Holy cow.”
There was one difference. Crest used its press with great effect against Che-topa.
“We weren’t nearly as successful against Marais Des Cygnes,” Hermreck said. “It was a much slower game.”
The key came when Crest’s amped up its half-court, man-to-man defense.
“We’d been very porous on defense,” Hermreck said. “We hadn’t had any practices for a week, and the little things were starting to show. We need to refine those little things before they become big things.”
Crest may have done just that down the stretch.
“At some point, everybody on the court stepped up for us on offense or defense in the fourth quarter,” Hermreck said.
Crest led 10-7 after one period before the Trojans eked in front 18-16 at the break. The lead grew to 29-24 after three quarters.
Kyle Hammond scored 13 points to lead Crest. Jayden Bowen added eight
Jeremy Turner scored 10 to lead MDCV.
Crest (10-6-8-13—37) (FG/3-pt): Wiley 1/1-0-1-5, Morton 0/1-1-2-4, Hammond 2/2-3-4-13, Brallier 2-0-1-4, Decker 0/1-0-3-3, Bowen 3-2-3-8. TOTALS: 8/5-6-14-37.
MDCV (7-11-11-5—34) (FG/3-pt): Case 2-0-3-4, Jones 3-0-3-6, Goodrich 2-1-2-5, Vanderpool 0/3-0-2-9, Turner 4-2-2-10. TOTALS: 11/3-3-12-34.
Lancers stage close victory
