Bruns, Haedt earn All-Tournament Team honors

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS — The St. Paul Crusader basketball team competed in the 2022-23 Lutheran Sports Association State Championship tournament over the weekend, finishing second with a 3-1 record over four games. The tournament concluded a 40-3 season for the Crusaders, who won the Meridian Conference Championship earlier this season.

St. Paul tipped off the tournament with a 55-19 win over Collinsville (Holy Cross) in Roselle on Friday. The Crusaders then defeated East St. Louis (Unity) 43-23 in Arlington Heights on Saturday before beating Nashville/Okawville 46-32 later that day to clinch a berth in the championship game.

St. Paul battled Peoria (Christ) in the finals, falling 50-34 to take second in the tournament. Brody Bruns and Cohen Haedt were each named All-Tournament Team honorees over the weekend. Bruns averaged 17.5 points per game for the Crusaders, who scored the second-most points of any team in the tournament with 178.

The second-place performance capped off a successful season for the Crusader boys, who won the St. John’s Lombard Eagle Invitational as well as the Rockford Lutheran Black Friday Shootout, the Cross Lutheran 23rd Annual Tip-off Tournament, the 12th Annual Immanuel Belvidere Chick-Fil-A Classic and the Fox Valley Lutheran Conference Championship.

The team includes Austin Hartnett, Eli Schweitzer, Aiden Carmichael, Owen Carmichael, Tyson Carmichael, Tyler Johnson, Johnny Chadwick, Warren Schweitzer, Brody Bruns, Braxton Bruns, Cohen Haedt, Brecken Bruns and coach Ryan Haedt.