No cake walk, but Crusaders knock off Fort Madison

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BY CHUCK VANDENBERG

PCC EDITOR

FORT MADISON - Something was burning and there was cake all over the place, but the Holy Trinity Crusaders boys basketball team worked a 50-49 overtime win over visiting Fort Madison Monday night.

The non-conference cross-town rival matchup was supposed to have been played on Saturday, but Jack Frost made an appearance and mucked things up, forcing the Monday night girls/boys double header.

Oh...and about ten grand was made auctioning off cakes during the breaks.

But on the hardcourt, the Crusaders' Quentin Schneider hit the front end of a one with :04 on the clock to give HTC the 50-49 advantage. His second free throw hit the back of the rim and popped lazily back toward the free throw line. Schneider was back tracking off the miss, but raced to the ball and tied it up with Fort Madison's Jayden Fedler.

The Hounds had 1.2 seconds left on the clock and no time outs and Denning threw the ball over the head of Fedler and into HTC's hands to seal the win.

Fort Madison was without senior point guard Logan Rashid during the final stretch when he fouled out with 1:12 left on the clock. But Holy Trinity's leading scorer, Matt Hellige, was also sent to the bench with five fouls just seconds before Rashid left.

Schneider had given HTC the lead in OT 48-45 when he scored on a drive from the left baseline where he was fouled by Fedler and completed the three-point play, but Fort Madison would tie it up when freshman Dayton Davis hit a couple of free throws after HTC junior Reed Fehseke fouled him trying to swat a shot from behind with Davis penetrating off the dribble right.

With :04 left in the game Schneider penetrated from the right side of the lane and drew contact from the Hounds' Parker Denning to set up the game winning free throw.

The game got to the extra session tied at :43. Senior Adam Rauenbuehler took the ball from half court and penetrated through the Fort Madison right side where he threw up a scoop shot off-balance that rolled around the rim and came out and ended up in a jump ball with :02.2 on the clock.

"We were trying to attack and be aggressive and we wanted Reed (Fehseke) or Adam going to the rim or trying to find somebody or creating something and it worked out. I thought it was going in, but it came out," Head Coach John Hellige said.

The Hounds struggled to get the ball in but threw to center court just prior to a 5- second call on the inbounds. The ball was tied up again on the throw in and Fort Madison's coach Ryan Wilson called a timeout with :01 left in regulation.

Fort Madison tried to throw the ball in deep but it was picked off by Holy Trinity to end regulation.

Hellige said it was a bittersweet win because he's an FMHS alum.

"I'm a Fort Madison graduate and still love the Bloodhounds. It's bittersweet to get the first win over my alum. But just being three or four blocks down the road, a lot of these guys are friends and play at the Y together and have known each other for years."

The game was nip and tuck most of the way with 12 different lead changes and ties in the game. The first quarter alone had four lead changes and two ties. It was clear that Fort Madison was going to try to work Fedler in the middle, but Holy Trinity collapsed effectively making it difficult for Fedler to get going.

"We just tried to cover him up and we just hoped that (Brandon) Keester and Rashid wouldn't get too hot from the outside, which has hurt us the last few games with them," Hellige said.

Fedler would score 12 points in the first half, all off inside moves and rebounds, but Holy Trinity would hold him to just three points in the second half.

Holding a 13-12 first quarter lead, the Crusaders raced out to a 17-12 lead in the early going of period 2. Jordyn Gerdes would score on an inside move with the Hounds using both Gerdes and Fedler underneath to give HTC a different look inside.

Keester would then hit a high-arching 3-ball to knot the score at 17. A bucket by Denning off a nice look from Rashid put Fort Madison up by two. Brant Holtkamp would score off a dribble drive from the left side to tie it back up on the next possession.

The Bloodhounds would then go on an 8-0 run capped by a Fedler bucket on a put back of his own miss. Hellige would score just before halftime to cut the FMHS lead to 27-21.

The Hounds would then go cold from the field after the break converting just three of 16 shots from the field to allow HTC to close the gap to 30-33 Keester hit a couple of 3-balls and Rashid added a short jumper in the lane for Fort Madison's only points in the period. But HTC countered with only 9 points in the quarter and still trailed by five 30-35 to start the final period.

Rauenbuehler hit to start the fourth quarter and close the gap to three, but the shooting woes continued from the Hounds missing their first five shots in the fourth period. Schneider converted two free throws to close it to one point at 35-34.

Denning and Davis would then convert back-to-back buckets for Fort Madison to push the lead back out to five 39-34. Rauenbuehler and Schneider would return the favor to close the deficit to one at 38-39.

Keester would score inside after yanking down a Rashid miss, but Hellige would score at the other end to make it 40-41 where John Hellige used a time out.

Out of the break, the Crusaders would get a stop on a Fedler miss and then Hellige would score on the next possession working inside. Denning and Fedler collapsed on Hellige, and Denning was whistled for a foul as Hellige dumped in a half-hook working underneath. Hellige made the freebie to give HTC its first lead of the half at 43-41.

Rashid would get fouled driving the lane with just :43 seconds left in the game and would connect on both free throws to set up Rauenbuehler's acrobatic attempt at the end of regulation.

Wilson said the Hounds were just outplayed by Holy Trinity.

"We got outplayed. They outplayed us the majority of the game. We came out flat and committed 15 turnovers against a half-court 2-3 zone. They wanted it more," Wilson said.

"You never want to lose to your cross-town rival. It's a pride thing and you want to be the best in town."

Wilson said the Hounds got a good game out of freshman Miles Dear who saw extended minutes with Davis and Rashid on the bench in foul trouble.

"He plays and practices hard and he knows the game. We got into some foul trouble and when we get into situations like that he stepped in and wasn't afraid to shoot, played good defense, and helped us tonight."

Schneider said he looks forward to the game against Fort Madison.

"This is a fun game and I love playing in it," Schneider said. "It's always a good game with them. You know the crowd will be in it. We talked on the court and had a lot of fun. It was everyone's effort that made the game great, not just what happened at the end."

Schneider plays football and runs track for the Bloodhounds so some of the players on the Hounds squad are his teammates in other seasons.

John Hellige said the second half strategy was to hold Fedler to six points and then try to get out and run.

"Our focus at halftime was to slow down Fedler. He had 12 in the first half and we wanted to hold him to six in the second half and we held him to four. So I think that was a big difference," he said.

"We really wanted to run. We've worked hard on conditioning and that helped us in the second half. They were jamming our defensive rebounds and I thought if we could get out and run we could get some guys down the floor."

Fedler led Fort Madison with 16 points, while Keester and Rashid had 11 and 10 respectively. Denning had six and Davis had four, with Gerdes rounding out the scoring for FMHS with a bucket.

For the Crusaders, Hellige finished with 16 and Schneider had 13. Rauenbuehler had eight points, while Fehseke had five, Holtkamp had four, and Blake Crabtree and Kyle Bredemeyer had two each.

The Bloodhounds shot just six free throws on the night, converting four, while HTC went to the free throw line 23 times shooting just 52%.

Fort Madison (5-9) travels to Burlington for a girls/boys doubleheader Tuesday night, while Holy Trinity (4-9) has won four of their last five and heads to New London for a double header.

Fort Madison senior Brandon Keester tries to block the inbounds pass from HTC's Quentin Schneider in the fourth quarter of Monday's game. Photo by Chuck Vandenberg/PCC

basketball, boys, Fort Madison High School, Holy Trinity Catholic, iowa, sports, varsity

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