Crusaders looking to build on substate run

COURT EXPERIENCE

This senior class, they took some beatings in their freshman year, greatly improved the second half of their sophomore year, and then were rewarded for all the hard work in season and in the offseason with the nice, long, substate run, which was great.”

John Hellige, HTC boys head coach

FORT MADISON - Holy Trinity’s boys basketball team got to within one step of the Class 1A state tournament last season.

The Crusaders won 19 games on their way to the substate final, where they lost to Winfield-Mount Union.

The Crusaders lost two starters from that team, but the roster is still deep enough where the team could make another deep postseason run.

But that, coach John Hellige said, is something his team isn’t thinking about right now.

“Honestly, the way we're kind of viewing this season is just kind of one possession at a time, one quarter at a time, one half at a time, one game at a time, and just really trying to focus on maintaining our level and inching upwards with some new guys coming on,” Hellige said.

Still, Hellige said, it was important for the Crusaders to make that run.

“Those kids work super hard,” Hellige said. “They really kind of brought the program back to where it needed to be, and that was really through a lot of, you know, blood, sweat and tears. This senior class, they took some beatings in their freshman year, greatly improved the second half of their sophomore year, and then were rewarded for all the hard work in season and in the offseason with the nice, long, substate run, which was great.”

This team is filled with experience with starters Luke Hellige, Layne Rung and Adam Sobczak returning.

“Any time you've got guys that have multiple years of varsity experience on the court, it's nice,” John Hellige said. “So Luke and Adam both are four-year starters. Layne is now a three-year starter. You’ve got that core group back that's played a lot and played a lot during the season and a lot in the offseason. So it's good to have that nucleus back.

“And for the first time in a long time, I've got three seniors, six juniors, so we're kind of a little bit top heavy on the upperclassmen versus kind of always being the younger guys.”

Luke Hellige averaged 23.9 points last season and led the team with 72 3-pointers. Sobczak averaged 8.6 assists. Rung averaged 10.9 points and was second on the team with 56 3-pointers.

Senior Koby Jones and junior Nathan Box will move into the open starting positions in the frontcourt.

“Nathan is a power forward, a true ‘4’, and he’s a weight-room junkie, just strong as an ox,” Hellige said. “Koby has had some injuries in his career, but at 6-5, he’s extremely strong. That gives us a lot of strength inside.”

The Crusaders played 40 games during the summer and fall as part of their offseason work.

“It's a little too many, I'd say, but we really had fun,” Hellige said. “I have them play till they say that's enough, and then we back off from there. And they never said that. They really enjoyed playing together.”

The SEI Superconference’s South Division is also top-heavy with talent, and Hellige expects his team, which finished second in the division last year, to be among the contenders.

“The key to this group is just everyone kind of understanding what their roles are,” Hellige said. “I think most of the kids are getting that. We've got some kids that are just big and strong, and if they can just really focus on keeping possessions alive, playing tough defense, rebounding, and scoring when the opportunity presents itself, we can be a really, really good team.”