Nick Niemczyk poured in 29 points as top-seeded Bell City routed Leopold 81-43 Tuesday night in the semifinals of the Class 1 District 2 boys basketball tournament at Zalma.

Phillip Gross added 13 points for the Cubs and Marty Dames contributed 10.

Dustin Thiele led Leopold with 18 points. Darren VanGennip added 15.

Bell City advances to Thursday's 7:30 p.m. championship game against Lesterville, which beat Eminence 75-69 in the other semifinal.

CLASS 2, DISTRICT 3

Saxony 59, Bloomfield 55

Saxony Lutheran boys basketball coach John Daniel credited a halftime suggestion from one of his players for helping the Crusaders reach the program's first district championship game.

The top-seeded Crusaders trailed fifth-seeded Bloomfield by seven points at the break of Tuesday night's Class 2 District 3 tournament semifinal at Chaffee High School.

Senior forward Ben Courtois thought the Crusaders had allowed the Wildcats to dictate the tempo, so he approached Daniel at the intermission.

Courtois felt full-court pressure would help turn the tide in Saxony's favor.

"Our defensive intensity just wasn't there," explained Courtois. "Usually when we press it really helps us bring up our intensity."

Their intensity sufficiently amped, the Crusaders rallied for a 59-55 victory.

Saxony Lutheran (20-5) will play second-seeded, defending champion Puxico at 7:30 p.m. Thursday for the district crown.

"It's very exciting," senior guard Max Wieser said of the first district title appearance for the sixth-year program. "I'm so proud of everybody."

Daniel said he encourages his players to offer suggestions, and he appreciated the one Courtois handed out.

"We made an adjustment at halftime, thanks to the suggestion of my senior captain," Daniel said. "We picked them up full court, and I think that made a big difference."

Daniel's two senior captains -- Wieser is the other -- helped bail out the Crusaders, with an assist from several teammates.

Wieser scored a game-high 20 points, 13 coming in the second half as Saxony overcame a 31-24 deficit.

Puxico 68, Meadow Heights 40

Puxico never trailed as the defending champion Indians steadily pulled away from the underdog Panthers.

All five starters scored in double figures for the Indians (16-9), led by J Hon and Matt Allison with 16 points each.

Meadow Heights (12-12) was paced by Tyler Wagner with 12 points and Dustin Hubler with 10. The Panthers won six of their final eight games this season.