Crusaders shake off slow start in Friday win

FORT MADISON – The Holy Trinity boys took a hot minute to get past the holiday break Friday night before rolling New London 53-30 in Southeast Iowa Super Conference basketball action Friday night in Fort Madison.
The Crusaders gave up a 7-0 run in the opening minutes before Head Coach John Hellige had seen enough and called an early timeout.
“We didn’t play our best tonight by any means. Effort was terrible the first four or five minutes. I didn’t expect that. I expected us to be a little clunky, but nothing like that. It’s just where you need your seniors to step up,” he said.
“We ran some good sets and got some good looks right away that didn’t go in, and that’s fine, but there’s no excuse for not working hard.”
The timeout worked as the Crusaders broke out of an 0-for-5 shooting slump with a Jack Ragar bucket that started Holy Trinity’s engine. Ragar would score again off a Nathan Box steal to cut the lead to 4-7.
New London would get a put-back bucket from Riley Raines, but Holy Trinity already had the momentum. Jay Ellison would hit a 3-ball from the top of the key to cut the lead to two and then Cobin Van Niewaal would hit a couple freethrows to tie things up with 7:47 left in the first half.
Ragar would give the Crusaders the lead with a freethrow at 12-11. The Tigers' Kye Reighard would convert a three-point play off a Van Niewaal foul. But Van Niewaal would tie it up on the next possession with a bucket inside to make it 14-14.
Layne Rung, who finished with a game-high 22 points, hit a 3-ball from the deep left wing and then scored again in transition after a Crusader defensive stop.

Holy Trinity wouldn’t look back as they extended the lead to 29-18 at the half with Rung scoring the final eight points in the half for HTC.
Hellige said Rung has made a commitment to be more than just a perimeter scorer.
“He’s making a conscious effort to be more of an attacker. He’s such a great shooter, but we have to attack there a bit to keep defenses honest with him. It’s been a point of emphasis for him this year,” Hellige said.
Ellison heated up in the second half with three 3-pointers, two in the third period as HTC pushed its lead to 21 at 43-22 to end the third period. Hellige said Ellison is already a leader on the floor as a sophomore.
“He played a little bit last year. He’s a really good shooter and he was about 53% on threes going into tonight, and then hit some more tonight. He’s a good communicator, plays super hard and he’s a great kid.”
Ellison finished with 16 points, while Ragar was also in double figures with 11.
Hellige said the work over the break helped keep the Crusaders in game shape, but they needed a good win to shake off the lack of real games.
“We went to Oskaloosa and Sigourney in some really good scrimmages over the break, but we needed a game like this to get the rust off.
The Crusaders improve to 3-3 in SEISC play and stand at 4-3 overall. New London falls to 0-7 on the season. Holy Trinity plays two at home next week when Mediapolis comes to Shottenkirk Gym Tuesday and then Central Lee comes to Fort Madison on Friday for the rematch from Dec. 2. Since that 43-39 loss to the Hawks, the Crusaders have won five of their last six.