Grayhounds knock Fort Madison from the unbeaten

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BHS outscores Bloodhounds 24-9 in 4th quarter to secure upset

BY CHUCK VANDENBERG
PCC EDITOR

BURLINGTON - There's not really such a thing as a good loss, but if there was one, Fort Madison's 59-46 loss to Burlington on the road Monday night fits the bill.

The Bloodhounds surrendered their unblemished 15-0 record on the year to an athletic Grayhounds squad bent on an upset in a fast-paced affair with both teams pressing, and trying to score in transition.

It was the Grayhounds' full court pressure in the fourth quarter that proved to be Fort Madison's undoing.

Senior Matt Hopper hit a buzzer beater from the left baseline to end the 3rd quarter with one of the Bloodhounds' best half-court trips of the night. The 3-pointer gave Fort Madison a 37-35 lead heading into the fourth.

But Burlington regrouped and Fort Madison couldn't seem to figure out the pressure. The Grayhounds went on a 24-9 run through the fourth quarter capitalizing on turnovers and missed baskets to put the game away.

"100% we'll learn from this. We'll be better because of it," Fort Madison Head Coach Ryan Wilson said. "We see them again in 11 or 12 days. Let's hope we can play better and make better decisions."

The Bloodhounds' Reiburn Turnbull drives the lane against Burlington's Jackson Carlson (4) and Amarion Davis (2)

The Hounds will need the learning experience going forward as they play at No. 4 Washington on Friday, travel to Quincy on Saturday, and then play at current Class 3A No. 2 Decorah on Feb. 8.

Monday's loss to Burlington puts the Hounds in a tie with Washington atop the Southeast Conference at 7-1 each. Fort Madison already owns a win over the Demons at Fort Madison earlier. Washington has two wins over Burlington this year leaving the Grayhounds at 6-2 in the conference, just one game back.

"They're very athletic, they got some long reach, but we had things in place to beat that 1-2-2 press," Wilson said of the Grayhounds. "We saw it against Fairfield and we knew it was coming. We saw it against Notre Dame. We just have to make better decisions."

He said it wasn't necessarily the frantic pace of the game, but the Hounds' decision making that got them in trouble.

"It wasn't the pace so much. We just didn't run our stuff," Wilson said. "When we have guys that don't want to get where they need to be and run the plays that are drawn up, we're gonna struggle. How many times did we go one-on-two, one-on three in the press. You don't break that press with a dribble."

Burlington tied the game early in the fourth after a Landes Williams' miss. They took the lead on Merquiche Lewis Jr.'s bucket in transition. Dayton Davis would tie things up with a bucket inside of a nice inlet pass from Reiburn Turnbull.

Burlington would answer on Amarion Davis' bucket inside on the Grayhounds' next possession, again in transition after slipping through the Fort Madison press.

Davis would then get to the freethrow line on a foul driving the lane to bring the game within one again at 41-40. Davis would miss the back end of the freebies and Burlington would mishandle the rebound. Miles Dear slipped around the baseline for the rebound, but his putback was partially blocked, and Davis was whistled for a foul working in the paint. Things got out of hand from there.

On Burlington's next possession, Lewis, Jr., got past the Fort Madison press and was fouled by Tate Johnson at the other end. He converted the bucket and made the freethrow to extend Burlington's lead to four. The Grayhounds shot a stellar 9 of 12 from the field in the final period.

Davis would miss at Fort Madison's end and Tyce Bertlshofer would take a half-court pass and score over the top of the Hounds' defense.

Dear would hit from the top right side of the 3-point arc for Fort Madison in the next possession, prompting a quick time out from Wilson with the Hounds trailing 46-43.

Fort Madison would miss their next three shots while Burlington went on a 9-0 run to put the game away.

Wilson said Fort Madison got in too much of a hurry down the stretch. He didn't call a timeout to slow things down because the Bloodhounds knew what to do, they just didn't execute it.

"It was just a matter of slow down and run your stuff. Why do we have to go 100 mph all the time," Wilson said. "I've told them at some time it's gonna catch up to us, and it sure did tonight."

Davis led Fort Madison with 13 points. Dear had nine in the loss, while Tate Johnson chipped in with eight and Landes Williams added six.

Fort Madison is off until Friday when they travel to Washington in another key Southeast Conference matchup.

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