Veritas junior Miles Dressler (12) puts up a shot in front of Derby Invasion's Josiah King during their game Saturday in Eudora.

Eudora ? Veritas Christian’s boys basketball coach Carl Huslig said he had a feeling junior guard Chad Stieben was going to have a good game against Derby on Saturday.

He was right.

Stieben led the Eagles’ with 27 points and scored eight points in the last five minutes to lift Veritas to a 48-44 victory at the Eudora Community Center.

“He’s been this close all year. He finished shots today for the first time,” Huslig said. “He’s our best scorer by far, and we just need Kalim (Dowdell) and Miles (Dressler) to start hitting shots. For the first time all year, Chad carried the offense.”

The Eagles (10-2) led by as much as 16 in the third quarter before they went five minutes without a basket, missing 11 straight shots, with two turnovers sprinkled in. Derby responded with a 12-0 run to cut the score to 34-29 going into the fourth quarter.

In the final period, Derby cut Veritas’ lead to one point on several occasions, but Stieben responded with a big play each time to keep the Eagles in front, whether it was through hitting jumpers, slashing to the rim for layups or finding teammates inside for open layups.

“Honestly, we have much more talent on the team this year, so my role has changed from scoring more to a defensive player,” said Stieben, who also had eight rebounds and five assists. “But I love to get the scoring, so tonight was really special for me.”

The Eagles led 24-11 at halftime with strong defense, holding Derby to 13 percent shooting from the field (4-for-30). Stieben scored 11 of the Eagles’ first 14 points.

But in the second half, Derby picked up several offensive rebounds to get its offense started on a comeback bid, while the Eagles’ offense stalled.

“I think as they made their comeback, we got tight,” Huslig said. “We started not trusting our offense, and on defense we stopped blocking out. … Then we settled down in the last four minutes and executed as good as we have all year.”

Dressler had 13 points and six rebounds, while Dowdell had a team-high 14 rebounds and three blocks. Sophomore Weston Flory and eighth-grader Trey Huslig had three points each.

VERITAS (48)

Chad Stieben 10-18 4-4 27, Miles Dressler 5-15 2-2 13, Isaiah Garrett 0-0 0-0 0, Michael Rask 0-0 0-0 0, Kalim Dowdell 1-10 0-3 2, Trey Huslig 1-5 1-2 3, Weston Flory 1-4 0-0 3. Totals 18-52 7-11 48.

DERBY (44)

Isaac Folger 1-10 2-4 4, Luke Pauli 0-0 0-0 0, Garrett Davis 2-7 1-4 5, Kodan Campbell 1-10 2-2 4, Jesse St. John 5-11 3-4 13, Josiah King 6-23 6-8 18. Totals 15-61 14-22 44.

Derby 8 3 18 15 — 44

Veritas 17 7 10 14 — 48

Three-point goals: Veritas 5-18 (Stieben 3, Dressler, Flory); Derby 0-8. Turnovers: Veritas 11, Derby 11.