Crusaders roll Mediapolis for fifth win

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BY CHUCK VANDENBERG
PCC EDITOR

FORT MADISON - A potent first half carried the Holy Trinity boys basketball team to their fifth win of the year Saturday.

The Crusaders handed Mediapolis a 44-24 loss, holding the Bulldogs to less than six points per quarter to move to 5-2 on the year.

Kadin Medland gave HTC some pop from the outside. The senior got hot in the second half hitting three 3 balls from all over the perimeter to keep Holy Trinity comfortably ahead.

Head Coach John Hellige said he's been waiting for Medland to have this type of game.

"He's a great zone buster for us," Hellige said. "We've been kinda waiting for him to bust loose. He's a really nice shooter."

Holy Trinity opened the game with a 10-1 run getting threes from Jason Thurman and Tyler Snaadt in the early going. Chandler Rung also get in on the early scoring action, before Vasin Thurman slipped off a pick out to the top of the key and buried a three of his own as the buzzer sounded for a 13-3 first quarter lead.

HTC's Tyler Snaadt goes up for layup in transition in Saturday's 44-24 win over Mediapolis at home. The Crusaders are now 5-2 on the year and travel to Notre Dame for a Southeast Iowa Superconference clash before the holiday break. Photo by Chuck Vandenberg/PCC

The Bulldogs were dismal from the field going just 1 of 7 shooting and 1-of-4 from the free throw line.

HTC would be push the lead to 27-9 when Jason Thurman, who had just six on the night, converted the back end of two at the line after getting fouled going to the basket.

Mediapolis trailed 29-14 at the half and then Medland hit two threes back-to-back and Rung added another basket in the run to make it 39-14 before things began to chug a little slow in the fourth.

Holy Trinity moved to some man-to-man offensive sets but ran into a case of the yips with eight turnovers in the final eight minutes including one stretch were the Crusaders turned the ball over 4 times before getting another look at the basket.

"It wasn't the prettiest of second halves. It got a little rough at the end.," Hellige said. "We were trying to run through some through man sets and I think we just didn't have the legs after the overtime game last night."

Holy Trinity got a late win over Central Lee Friday in a game that went into overtime after the Hawks wiped out an eight-point lead with less than a minute to go forcing OT.

Hellige said the Crusaders could be 6-1 if not for a lack of production against Danville last week, but the team is playing well going into the break.

"I'm happy with how we're playing. We could easily be 6-1 if we'd had some offense in Danville, which we clearly didn't. But the kids are playing well and have some momentum now going into Notre Dame."

The Crusaders travel to Burlington for that game on Tuesday before the holiday break.

Medland finished with 14 points on the night to lead HTC. Vasin Thurman had 11, Rung tied Jason Thurman with six, and Snaadt had five on the night.

BCMoore's Iowa High School database of high school basketball has HTC ranked as the 29th best team in the state out of 147 Class 1A teams.

As for other Southeast Iowa Superconference boys teams New London is rated as the fifth best team, with Danville currently at 15, Notre Dame is listed at 21, indicating the caliber of teams in the area.

The ranking is based currently on 60% this year's scores and 40% last year and moves more heavily to the current season as the year progresses.

basketball, boys, crusaders, Holy Trinity Catholic, hoops, Mediapolis, Pen City Current, sports

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