AREA BOYS BASKETBALL

Crusaders getting some swagger

HTC follows win over WB with crosstown win over FM

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FORT MADISON - Holy Trinity’s boys basketball team took down a state-ranked team and its city rival in less than 24 hours.
The Crusaders’ 68-59 win over Fort Madison on Saturday capped a good weekend for coach John Hellige and his team.
This victory, plus Friday’s 66-60 win over No. 6 (Class 2A) West Burlington finished an eight-day. four-win stretch for the Crusaders.
“We played six games in two weeks, and then we play a really tough West Burlington team and a really tough Fort Madison team, it really shows this team’s grit and determination.
“You hear the word upset, big wins, and stuff like that. I think people forget we were 19 and 6 last year, substate finalists. So, I mean, this team's got some swagger. They've got some confidence. And we feel like we can go in and play with anybody.”
“It’s really big for us,” said senior Luke Hellige, who had 23 points. “That loss at Central Lee (a 55-52 defeat last Friday) was really tough for us, but it really gave us the spark to play hard, work hard and play better.”
The game between two schools separated by a few blocks was as competitive as it could be. Fort Madison (5-5) led 39-30 early in the third quarter before Holy Trinity (11-2) went on a 12-2 run.
Then, with the Crusaders up 50-48 late in the third quarter, they went on an 11-2 run with a stretch in which they held the Bloodhounds without a field goal for more than 5 ½ minutes.
“We challenged them at halftime,” John Hellige said. “Our defense was so good last night in the second half, we didn't feel like it was as good there in the first half. I think the challenge at halftime was accepted.
“We went to a little bit of a zone there for a while just to give them a different look. And I think that I think that that's kind of slowed them down. They were a little bit more methodical than Fort Madison usually plays. So it just really feel like we got locked in, laser-focused and finished possessions defensively.”
“We really executed our game plan, played tough defense, hit shots,” Luke Hellige said.
“I felt like we settled for perimeter shots,” Fort Madison coach Ryan Wilson said. “We weren't attacking like in the first half. And granted, yeah, they played man on the first half and zone the second half. But we have offenses, and we have kids that can still attack, and we just settled. And when we did attack, we weren't strong with it. We were throwing it around, very sloppy passing, very sloppy taking care of the ball. Credit to them for making that adjustment.”
Fort Madison had a chance to make its own statement this week, but lost to Keokuk on Tuesday to go with a win over Fairfield on Friday and then this game.
“Two big spotlight games this week, Holy Trinity and Keokuk, and we didn't step up to finish the job,” Wilson said. “We had opportunities in both gamesI think some of our guys got starstruck and lost in the moment. Congrats to Holy Trinity on shooting it well and on the win. They beat us. We’ve got to learn, hopefully, and be better going forward on things.”
Layne Rung led Holy Trinity with 24 points. Adam Sobczak added 13.
Kenden Bowie led Fort Madison with 19 points. Darius Foye had 14.

Fort Madison, boys, HTC, Holy Trinity Catholic, Crusaders, Hounds, Bloodhounds, Luke Hellige, Layne Rung, Nolan Guzman, Kenden Bowie, varsity, Pen City Current,

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