Tahj Patterson pulled an old-school tool out of the tool box Saturday afternoon.
A senior guard for the Lutheran North boys basketball team, Patterson looked into the lane and saw Trinity’s 7-foot center Ryan Kalkbrenner waiting on him.
Patterson and the Crusaders took the mid-range jumpers they were given to build a 22-point fourth-quarter lead then held off Trinity’s furious final five minutes for a thrilling 87-79 win in the Class 3 District 7 championship game at home.
Lutheran North (21-8) advanced to play O’Fallon Christian (24-5) in a sectional at 7:45 p.m. Wednesday at Francis Howell Central.
It’s the 14th district championship for Lutheran North and its first since 2013. The Crusaders appeared to be headed for a runaway win. Senior guard Jordan Smith buried a jumper to put Lutheran North ahead 73-51 — its largest lead — with 5 minutes and 12 seconds to play.
The No. 5 small school in the
STLhighschoolsports.com rankings, Trinity (23-6) elevated its defensive intensity which led to turnovers and momentum. Kalkbrenner scored a one-handed shot that cut the deficit to 82-79 with 49 seconds remaining.
“They’re a great team. We knew we had to keep piling up on our lead when we had the opportunity,” Smith said. “It was going to be a long game. On this journey through the playoffs, you have to fight no matter how you get it done. You can be up by a lot and it can get cut down and we know that.”
Trinity’s full-court trapping, pressure defense gave Lutheran North trouble in the fourth quarter. The Crusaders didn’t get too deep into the bench much of the afternoon and appeared to be running on fumes as time ticked away. Kalkbrenner used his length and the Titans’ guards were flying around, disrupting passing lanes and turning up the pace. Trinity outscored Lutheran North 28-14 the last five minutes of the fourth.
Trinity senior guard Rashad Weekly scored 12 of his 22 points in that stretch. Kalkbrenner was phenomenal all game. He scored the Titans first bucket of the fourth quarter after he blocked two Crusader shots, the second of which he grabbed and then went coast-to-coast for a layup-and-one. He had 11 of his 25 points in the fourth.
The Creighton-bound Kalkbrenner was a dominating force as he grabbed 11 rebounds and blocked 11 shots. But he didn’t get enough help on the glass and it came back to haunt the Titans.
“He played well,” Trinity coach Jeff McCaw said. “Sometimes having a big fella is a blessing and curse at the same time. You’ve got everybody depending on him to rebound, defend, block shots. The other guards stand around and watch.”
Lutheran North dominated the rebounding battle with a 45-23 advantage.
Senior forward Antonio Doyle drew the task of defending Kalkbrenner. A 6-foot-4 and 220-pound Texas A&M football recruit, Doyle gave up more than half a foot in height but made his presence felt. He hauled in 13 rebounds and scored five points. Both of his field goals were on putbacks.
“That was my first time going against someone way bigger than me. It was hard,” Doyle said. “I knew I had to stay in him, give him all I got and help my team out. He was going to play his role, I had to play mine.”
Lutheran North took the lead for good when Smith scored a layup just before the first-quarter horn to make it 17-15. The Crusaders led 45-28 at halftime.
Smith finished with 24 points, three rebounds, two assists and a steal. Junior guard Isaiah Williams had nine points, four rebounds and blocked two shots.
Patterson was scintillating as he scored a career-high 37 points, grabbed seven rebounds, handed out two assists, made four steals and blocked a shot. He buried all six of his free-throw attempts in the fourth quarter. As a team, Lutheran North went 16 of 19 at the free-throw line and 3 of 4 in the last 21 seconds.
“They’re physical, they’re fast. It was real tough,” Patterson said. “I was just telling my teammates to just have some composure. We did that, got to the free-throw line and put it away.”
It was the third consecutive district championship game appearance for Trinity. McCaw felt the Crusaders were just a bit more motivated after his team won its first district title last season.
“For some of those guys it was almost like the spoils, you’ve had it before,” McCaw said. “For the guys at Lutheran North, this is their first district championship. Their passion to have it and want it was more desirable than ours today. They deserved it.”
This article was originally published on
stltoday.com 
