FM boys dish up win over Central Lee

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BY CHUCK VANDENBERG
PCC EDITOR

FORT MADISON - Losing can be a powerful motivator.

Fort Madison senior Logan Rashid said a loss against cross-town rival Holy Trinity two weeks ago is still stuck in his craw. And with Friday night's loss to Mt. Pleasant, he said the Hounds had something to prove Saturday doubling up Central Lee 82-41 in non-conference boys basketball action.

"Just from last night, we played pretty hard and couldn't get it done. Obviously, we were pretty mad when we faced HTC and they beat us by one, and when we face another team from our county... we're not letting that happen again," Rashid said.

The Bloodhounds dropped a heart-breaking 52-47 loss to Mt. Pleasant in the HoundDome on Friday night.

Rashid's 16 paced the Bloodhounds, who from the outset let the Hawks know it would be tough night in Fort Madison on Saturday.

The Hounds, moving around like they were on ice, laced seven 3-balls in the first quarter including three from Brandon Keester. The senior lefty opened the game with a long ball from the right wing and then junior Parker Denning went from the left side to stake a quick 6-0 lead.

Central Lee's TJ Stutes and Dylan Stueker would score in transition on back-to-back possessions to cut the lead to 6-4, but then Keester, Rashid and Denning would combine for 14 points in a 14-2 run putting the Hounds up 22-6.

The Hawks' Bronson Sargent would stop the rally with a 9-foot jumper from the left baseline. Rashid then scored the next seven points to end the quarter at 27-8.

Rashid had 10 of his 17 in the opening stanza, and then turned to making sure everyone else had a good night.

With the Hounds up 31-11 well into the second quarter, Rashid penetrated from the top of the key and off the dribble, spun, and with his back nearly to the basket found senior Jordyn Gerdes down on the block, and with a flip left-handed pass hit Gerdes for two of his season-high 12 points.

Fort Madison would go a little cold after that, missing five of it's next six shots, but the defense clamped down on Central Lee who didn't get a shot off in the stretch other than a three from senior Jordan Nagle.

Gerdes would then score six straight, a couple off balls screens on the left side of the offense, rolling off the screens for open looks.

In one sequence, freshman Dayton Davis, pulled a crossover in front of the Central Lee bench that buckled the Hawk's defender who went to the ground. Davis cut around the baseline and found Gerdes hangin' around in the lane.

Head Coach Ryan Wilson said Gerdes works off pick-and-rolls and screens very well.

"There's just kids that do things naturally and have a knack for things. Jordyn just seems to have a knack to be open every time off a ball screen," Wilson said.

With the Hounds holding a nice 42-24 lead at halftime, Jayden Fedler, who struggled Friday night against Mt. Pleasant, where he had just two points, started to shake off the ickies in the third quarter.

The 6'6" senior scored nine of the Hounds first 13 points in the third period pushing the Hounds to a comfortable 25-point lead at 55-30. Fedler is one of the top scorers in the Southeast Conference but was held to just two points Friday against the Panthers.

Gerdes would clean up the third period with the Hounds final four points. Rashid would open the fourth with a 3-ball and Fedler would hit a three from just off the top of the key and the game was well in hand.

Fort Madison hit 11 threes on the night, seven in the first period and four in the final period, setting a season-high for the team.

Wilson said the Hounds are more successful when they get those looks out of the offense rather than transition.

"Coach (Tom) Goetz has repeated it over and over that we have to get the ball inside to open the outside. He looked pretty deep in our stats and it shows that we play better when we get threes in the flow of our offense, rather than just playing chuck it up," Wilson said.

The Bloodhounds had four players in double figures including Rashid and Gerdes, Fedler finished with 15 and Denning had 11. Keester scored nine on the night, all in the first quarter, while Davis had six, Miles Dear and Leighton Rockhold each hit for three. Jace Burgher and Mike Mosena each had two points to round the scoring for Fort Madison.

Wilson said the Hounds played with some emotion after Friday's loss.

"We had confidence and fire from last night," he said. "They were really disappointed after last night's game and came out with some emotion and urgency. We wanted to get to a big lead early and send the message we can be a good team when we move the ball and share the ball and space the floor out."

In the junior varsity contest, Central Lee won 44-35- Philip Goldie led the Hound with 10 points.

The Hounds substate assignments were released this week and Fort Madison is in Substate district 5 with Centerville, Fairfield, Keokuk, Mt. Pleasant, Oskaloosa, South Tama and Washington.

Wilson said the rest of the season will be focused on getting ready for districts which begin on Feb. 18. District seeding meetings take place on Feb. 6 and in most cases the higher seed will host in substate brackets

"We've preached over the last week or so that we've got to start seeing some consistency and take care of the ball. Our district is out and we know who we might have to face. Everything going forward is geared toward playing the best we possibly can headed into districts on Feb. 18.

The Hounds are off until Friday when they travel to Washington in a conference matchup

bloodhounds, boys, central lee, iowa, Pen City Current, sports

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