WILLARD — Every time St. Paul closed the gap, Colonel Crawford answered.
Brody Martin scored 21 points as the Eagles held off the Flyers 61-51 in Tuesday’s Division IV district semifinals inside Willard’s Robert L. Haas Gymnasium.
Crawford (20-4) will play St. Peter’s in the district final at 7 p.m. Friday. The Spartans stopped Lucas 81-71 in Tuesday’s late game.
St. Paul (13-12) trailed 30-22 at the half and 43-32 midway through the third, but scored five straight and cut the C.C. lead to 43-37 on a Nick Lukasko 3-pointer with 2:39 remaining in the period. The Eagles scored the next four points for a 47-37 lead with less than a minute to play in the quarter.
It was a theme that would repeat itself throughout the final period. The Flyers would pull within striking distance only to see the Eagles push the advantage back to double figures.
“We were right there and they made the shots when they had to,” St. Paul coach Mike Smith said. “They are so dangerous in so many ways. They can penetrate, they can kick and they’ve got shooters everywhere.
“They’re a hard guard, but I thought we played pretty well.”
St. Paul cut the Colonel Crawford lead to 47-44 early in the fourth on a Nate Winslow hoop with 7:43 left in the fourth quarter, but the Eagles responded with the next six points, capped by a Cameron McCreary layup with 6:10 left, for a 53-44 lead. The Flyers scored four straight to cut the deficit to 53-48, but the Eagles connected on six straight free throws to win going away.
“We were up five going into the fourth and we extended it to a 10-point lead,” Colonel Crawford coach David Sheldon said. “To get out of a district semifinal with a 10-point win is special. People don’t understand how tough it is to get to a district final.”
Jordan Fenner, Reis Walker and Harley Shaum each had nine points for the Eagles. McCreary added seven.
“That’s the great thing with the depth of our program,” Sheldon said. “These guys were like, ‘We’re ready to go over there and take care of business.’ ”
Winslow and Chris Ruffing had 11 points apiece to lead the Flyers. Lukasko and Nick Winslow each had nine.
“I thought we played pretty well. Our kids competed,” Smith said. “It was a good high school game.”
