HTC cagers fall to New London

BY CHUCK VANDENBERG

PEN CITY EDITOR

FORT MADISON - The one-two punch of Holy Trinity Catholic's guard court wasn't enough to overcome New London's inside-out game Tuesday night as the Crusaders fell 62-50 at Shottenkirk Gymnasium.

Senior Corey Hopper led HTC with 22 points, followed by fellow senior Connor Conrad's 11 points. No other HTC player scored in double figures.

The Crusaders couldn't find a bucket in the first quarter until senior Connor Hellweg converted a free-throw with just over two minutes left to play in the quarter. Senior Jack Stinson scored on the back end of two free-throws on the next possession to give HTC their first two points of the game. Already down 2-8, the Crusaders went scoreless the rest of the quarter while New London piled on eight more before the end of the half, three courtesy of a 3-ball from sophomore Isaac McSorley from the right side.

In the second quarter, the Crusaders were able to get a little momentum going when the Tiger's senior Ben Dentlinger got his second foul early in the period. Dentlinger had been disrupting shots inside for most of the first 12 minutes. But the Tigers still outscored HTC 18-12 in the second period.

"We've got to find a way to come out of the gate better," said Head Coach John Hellige after the game.

The Crusaders could get no closer than the 12-point final score spread but managed to outscore New London 34-28 in the second half.

"We played a super high effort in the second half," Hellige said. "That's a really good New London team."

Rounding out the scoring for the Crusaders was Bailey Merschman with 4 points, and Nick Pothitakis, Connor Hellweg and Stinson with three each.

Holy Trinity falls to 4 -5 on the season and travels to Burlington Notre Dame on Friday for a girls/boys doubleheader.

The junior varsity team won the first game of the night 54-50 behind Reed Fehseke's 20 points. Matt Hellige was close behind with 17 followed by Blake Holtkamp with 8, Adam Rauenbuehler with 4, Blake Crabtree and Quentin Schneider each with two and Kyle Bredemeyer with 1.

Holy Trinity senior Connor Conrad drives the floor with New London's Keontae Luckett applying pressure in Tuesday's game.