WASHINGTON — Redemption.

That was the goal Friday afternoon in the consolation semifinals for Cullen VanLeer’s Owensville Dutchmen basketball team in the consolation semifinals of the 68th St. Francis Borgia Turkey Tournament.

Facing Union’s Wildcats, OHS looked to give VanLeer his first coaching victory and advance to the consolation championship game in the process.

Trailing 28-20 at halftime, Owensville was outscored 21-11 in the third quarter before falling 66-50 to the Wildcats.

“We competed well today,” VanLeer said. “We got hit with some obstacles that we’ll turn into learning lessons that will help us down the road.”

Early in the first quarter, Bryce Payne opened the scoring at the 6:10 mark leaving the Dutchmen trailing 3-2.

After a pair of Landon Valley free throws cut the Wildcat lead to 7-4, OHS saw Union end the quarter on an 11-2 run for an 18-6 advantage after eight minutes of basketball from St. Francis Borgia Regional High School.

Down 23-6 with 5:04 until halftime, Owensville went on a run of their own.

Started by a Will Lauth 3-pointer at the 4:00 mark of the second quarter, the Dutchmen scored the next 14 points trimming Union’s lead to 23-20.

In that run, Derek Brandt had six of the 14 points followed by a 3-pointer from Payne and a Zaid Epstein jumper with 1:33 for the half.

“We really battled in the second quarter to get the lead down to three points,” VanLeer said.

In the closing seconds of the half, Epstein was hit with a technical foul giving Union two points and a 28-20 halftime lead.

“Zaid made a silly play and the refs usually catch the second guy,” VanLeer said. “He understood what he did wrong and he’ll learn from it as the season goes on.”

Trading scores to start the third quarter, a 3-pointer from Brandt and a Tyler Heidbrink bucket kept the Dutchmen within five points of Union at 30-25 in the opening moments of the second half.

Another cold spell put the Dutchmen in a hole that they simply could not dig themselves out of.

Going over six minutes without a point in the third quarter, Union rattled off 17 unanswered points for a 47-25 lead at the 1:35 mark of the third period.

A free throw from Valley with 56.8 for the quarter ended Owensville’s latest scoring drought.

Held to 11 third-quarter points, the Dutchmen went into the final eight minutes trailing Union 49-31.

Unable to get any closer to the Wildcats, OHS fell to 0-2 on the season following their 66-50 loss to Union.

Scoring six points each in the second and third quarters, Brandt led the Dutchmen with a team-high 14 points to go along with seven rebounds and three assists.

Payne just missed double digit scoring with nine points while Logan Evans scored all eight of his points in the final 1:51 of the game.

Valley added seven points followed by five from Heidbrink.

Lauth scored three points to go with two points apiece from Epstein and Austin Lowder.

After a 79-37 loss to Washington last Tuesday, OHS will get another shot at them Monday, Dec. 7 at home starting at 5:30 p.m.