Fatima played well last week but fell to School of the Osage in Saturday’s championship game to finish second at the 64th Legends Bank Holiday Classic in Linn.

“I thought this was a good week for our team,” said Coach Matt Baker as the Comets finished Saturday’s game on the wrong end of a 63-51 final. “We had a very solid second half Monday defensively. On Thursday, we had a great effort all around against a really tough Belle team, and then we had 3.5 quarters of solid basketball versus Osage in the championship game.”

There wasn’t a breakout quarter for the Indians or a huge deficit to overcome. Instead, the game progressed with Fatima in the hunt until the end.

After the first quarter, the Comets trailed 14-12, and by halftime, they were down by three, 28-25. Fatima shot 36.5% overall while covering 5-22 from the outside and 8-12 at the line. Osage countered with a 42.6% shooting night from the field, with six treys, and an 11-12 performance at the stripe.

Osage slowly extended its lead in the third, entering the final stanza with a 44-35 advantage. Free throws down the stretch cemented the win.

Blake Kliethermes led the offense with 19 points, including a pair of three-pointers, as Xavier “Chet” Stuecken put in 15 points, with a 4-4 night at the line, and one trey.

Henry Robertson (trey, 2-4 FT) added nine points, as Devin Luebbert and Ty Brandt (trey) each scored three, and Evan Klouzek finished with two. Kliethermes had a team-high three assists.

On the boards, Stuecken posted six rebounds, Robertson added five, and Kliethermes grabbed four, followed by Luebbert (3), Bryce Wieberg (2), and Klouzek (1).

On the defensive side, Kliethermes counted three steals, while Stuecken and Brandt each had a block.

In the semis on Thursday, Fatima defeated Belle 61-55 in a tight game that ended with a flourish, a 24-22 fourth-quarter score that outpaced each preceding period.

Stuecken was stellar at the FT line, going 11-16, scoring 26 on the night to lead the Comets. Kliethermes (trey, 3-5 FT) added 20 points to the mix, as Brandt (2 treys) and Luebbert put in six apiece, and Klouzek (trey) added three.

Stuecken’s five assists were also tops for the Comets.

Kliethermes (9) and Stuecken (7) led the rebounding effort, as Luebbert snagged six, and Robertson, Klouzek, and Wieberg had one each.

Fatima opened with a 46-33 win over Cuba in last Tuesday’s first round.

The Comets won every frame but the second en route to the victory, as Stuecken went 4-4 at the stripe and posted a team-high 18 points. Kliethermes (trey) added 11, followed by Wieberg (2 treys, 8 points), Robertson (4), and Brandt (trey, 3 points).

Kliethermes paced the team with eight rebounds, as Stuecken secured seven, Wieberg and Klouzek each had four, Robertson posted three, and Brandt had two.

Baker is pleased with the effort, from the top down. “Our two seniors are doing a great job of competing and teaching all at the same time as well as keeping the morale high,” he said. “I’m very proud of all of them. I think our young guns are slowly figuring things out, and this week we finally started to see what this team is capable of night in and night out.”