Fresh off their first district title in 29 years following a 42-41 victory over Salem’s Tigers in the championship game of the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) Class 4, District 3 Boys Basketball Tournament, Cullen VanLeer’s Owensville Dutchmen looked to keep their home court momentum going last Monday night hosting Clayton’s Greyhounds at Owensville High School (OHS) in one of eight MSHSAA Class 4 sectional contests.

An Eli Graham bucket with 5:26 for the first quarter gave the Dutchmen a brief 4-2 lead before Clayton answered with a 9-2 run leaving Owensville trailing 11-6 with 3:15 for the first quarter.

A Zaiden Gates bucket along with 3-balls from Jansen Loeb and Keigan Glaser left the orange and black trailing the Greyhounds 17-14 after one quarter.

Missing all nine shots from the field in the second quarter, Owensville saw Clayton double their first-quarter point total to leave them in a 34-14 halftime deficit.

Able to get back within 14 at 40-26 on two Chase Crosby buckets and another Gates basket, Owensville was not able to get any closer before seeing their season end at 15-13 following a 64-47 loss to Clayton in sectional action last Monday night.

“It’s hard to win games when you can’t put the ball in the basket,” VanLeer said.

Trailing 6-4 with 4:36 for the opening quarter, Glaser tied the game at 6-6 on a bucket assisted by Brandon Graham.

After a 3-pointer from Clayton’s Elijah Fauss, Owensville trailed 9-6 at the 3:52 mark of the opening quarter and unfortunately never led the remainder of their sectional contest.

Allowing 21 unanswered points from the second quarter and the first three minutes of the third, Crosby ended Owensville’s long scoring drought with a pair of free throws at the 4:51 mark of the third quarter.

Between Gates and Crosby, the Dutchmen were able to cut their 20-point halftime deficit down to 16 at 42-26 entering the fourth quarter.

Unable to trim the deficit beyond 15 points in the fourth quarter, Owensville saw their first winning season in 14 years end at 15-13 after their sectional loss to Clayton.

Crosby led the Dutchmen with a team-high 15 points and three rebounds while Gates finished his high school career with 14 points, eight rebounds, three steals and two assists.

Glaser added five points, three steals and two assists to go along with four points apiece from the OHS duo of Brandon Graham and Eli Graham.

Brandon dished out a team-high five assists to go with two rebounds.

In addition to Loeb’s aforementioned 3-pointer, Brady Watson rounded out the Dutchmen scoring with two points, four assists, three rebounds and two steals.

Fauss led three Greyhounds in double figures for Clayton with 20 points and seven rebounds.

Da’marion Verges also added a double double of 17 points and 11 rebounds.

Sabastian Bolden rounded out the Greyhound trio of double-digit scorers with 11 points, eight rebounds and three assists.

Clayton saw their season end in the quarterfinals Saturday following a 78-63 loss to Potosi’s Trojans.

Their quarterfinal game originally scheduled for Friday night in Potosi was postponed and moved to Saturday due to severe weather that moved through the area Friday night.