Veritas boys take third place

? Veritas Christian closed its boys basketball season Saturday with a victory in the third-place game of the KCAA state tournament. The Eagles avenged two earlier losses to St. Mary’s with a 59-36 victory in their season finale.

“We played probably one of our best games of the year,” Veritas coach Gary Hammer said.

Elijah Penny led a balanced Veritas scoring attack with 12 points, followed by Jordan Rebman, Nate Scott and Ethan Kay with 11 points apiece. Nine of Rebman’s points came on three three-pointers.

Ethan Scott added eight points, and Thomas Backert scored six.

Ethan Scott, a junior, and Penny, a sophomore, were named to the all-tournament team.

“This is the best we’ve run our man-to-man offense,” Hammer said. “We took good shots and took care of the ball. We just outplayed them.”

Meanwhile, the Eagles held the top St. Mary’s scoring threat, Jacob Goodness, to two points.

“Our defense was really great against him,” Hammer said.

Veritas finished with a 14-11 record, including victories in five of its last six games.

“It was a big win,” Hammer said. “We wanted to bring home the third-place trophy.”