The Fighting Crusaders Take on Ohio

The fighting Crusaders are heading to the sectional finals after defeating the Hamilton Big Blue. They faced the Lakota East Thunder Hawks on Saturday, February 25th, pulling off a win by one point.

Ahead of the Lakota East game, the Crusaders already had two playoff wins under their belt: one vs. Hamilton and another vs. Harrison. The team won both showdowns in convincing fashion. The Crusaders defeated Harrison by a score of 56-39, and Hamilton 44-36.  Lead by the dynamic duo of Donovan Mukes and A.J McBride, the Crusaders are feeling good going into the rest of the tournament.

McBride and Mukes combined for 24 of the teams 44 points against Hamilton. Mukes is averaging 13.8 in the last four games and was looking to continue this success against the Thunder Hawks.  Lakota East was the fifteen seed lead by sophomore Trey Perry’s breakout season. Following a big upset against the five seed Withrow, the Thunder Hawks had hoped to continue their Cinderella story Saturday before being thwarted by Moeller.

The Crusaders will face the winner of Princeton vs. Western Hills. This game will be played at the University of Dayton on March 4th. This could be a redemption game for the Crusaders. Moeller lost to the Vikings by twenty points at the beginning of the season, and they will be out for revenge. We have seen this team get better week by week. Senior guard Eli Turner had this to say going into their sectional final matchup, “We are feeling confident. We have to trust our training and coaching staff and stick to our game plan. I trust we will be fine as long as we play as a team.”

This team is not cocky, but definitely confident. Thanks for everyone who came out to support the team this past Saturday!