Fort Madison boys fall in OT

FIGHING HARD

We’ve played 17 games, and in 15 of them we’ve played really hard and that’s what we need. Just at some point we’ve got to learn to mature and kind of slow some things down and run some stuff. And we'll get the good side of one of these close ones soon.”

Ryan Wilson, FMHS Head Coach

MEDIAPOLIS — Fort Madison’s boys basketball team found itself with a chance for a big nonconference win late in the season.
Mediapolis’ Will Luttenegger took that away from a sprint from one end of the court to the other.
Luttenegger’s layup off an offensive rebound with 2.7 seconds left in overtime gave the Bulldogs a 51-49 win over the Bloodhounds on Monday night.
Fort Madison (2-15) rallied from a 10-point deficit early in the fourth quarter to force overtime, but couldn’t finish.
“Credit to our guys, they didn’t give up,” coach Ryan Wilson said. “They battled back. We had the game tied, had a shot to win. We’re getting there.”
Fort Madison had its chances to get a lead in overtime, but four turnovers in the extra session were costly.
Still, the Bloodhounds had the ball with a chance to take the lead in the final seconds. A missed 3-pointer by William Worrall gave Fort Madison the ball with a four-second differential between the game clock and shot clock. Wilson thought about calling a timeout, but when he saw senior Nolan Guzman had the ball, he knew that’s who he wanted for the final shot.
“Why call a timeout?” Wilson said. “I was going to, but that gives them a chance to switch up their defense. Everybody knows he’s going to get it. And he got a good look.”
Guzman, who had 22 points, took a fadeaway shot from the right baseline — he had hit a similar shot from the left side earlier that tied the game with 22 seconds left and sent it to overtime — but the shot missed. The rebound was tapped out to Luttenegger, standing at the top of the key. Luttenegger raced to the other end of the court, with Guzman in pursuit.
As Guzman tried to cut off Luttenegger, Luttenegger dribbled behind his back to avoid Guzman, and made the layup.
“A good look, it just didn’t fall,” Wilson said. “And then, what a play by them. They tapped it out to somebody and he was off to the races. Nolan didn’t give up. He’s the one who shot that ball, but he hustled back and tried to make a play.”
Fort Madison called a timeout to draw up a play, but Reece Huey’s inbounds pass to midcourt was long and tipped away by the Bulldogs as the buzzer sounded.
“We wanted to get it to Darius (Foy) at half-court and get a quick timeout,” Wilson said. “We had two things in mind — either catch it and call a timeout or catch and flip it to Nolan. Looking back, 2 ½ seconds to go, maybe you get a quick dribble and call a timeout. But I thought the other play had more options.”
Fort Madison trailed 38-28 with 4 ½ minutes left in the third quarter before clawing back to lead 44-43 on Lucas Helmick’s putback with 1:52 left in the fourth. Mediapolis (13-6) answered with a 3-pointer from Max Griffin with 49 seconds left, then Guzman tied the game with his shot.
“They’re a bunch of competitors,” Wilson said of his team. “We’ve played 17 games, and in 15 of them we’ve played really hard and that’s what we need. Just at some point we’ve got to learn to mature and kind of slow some things down and run some stuff. And we'll get the good side of one of these close ones soon.”
Foy added 10 points for the Bloodhounds.
Griffin led Mediapolis with 15 points, while Luttenegger had 13.