Gehling scores 31 to lead Crusaders

FORT MADISON - Wapello’s defense left an open road that Holy Trinity senior Conner Gehling always enjoys traveling.

Gehling scored 31 points as the Crusaders ran past the Indians 88-56 on Thursday night at Shottenkirk Gym.

Gehling had 19 of his points in the first half, taking advantage of Wapello’s 1-3-1 zone defense that left the baseline exposed.

“That’s where I get a lot of my points,” Gehling said. “My teammates have great vision. I’ve played with those guys for so many years — they know where I’m going to be and I know they’re going to get me the ball. They ran that 1-3-1, and my guards kept getting me the ball down low. All kinds of credit to my teammates — they were getting me the ball.”

“Against that 1-3-1, we were looking for angles and seams,” Holy Trinity coach John Hellige said. “Conner is the master at finding that open position, and we’ve got guys that can get him the ball. That 1-3-1 really fits Conner’s offensive style.”

Gehling had nine points in the Crusaders’ 20-5 run to close the first quarter. That run came after Holy Trinity (11-4) fell behind 8-0 in the first two minutes.

“They have some very athletic kids,” Hellige said. “And we told them, you’ve got to be ready for the start, because these kids are going to get out and run. We didn’t come out with the intensity I wanted, so after they had that 8-0 run, we calmed down and played some pretty good basketball.”

Holy Trinity led 28-20 with 3:35 left in the first half, then went on a 16-4 run to close the half and take control of the game.

The second half was an up-and-down fast-break show for both teams. Holy Trinity led 72-39 at the end of the third quarter, and just kept running even with the running clock after getting a 35-point lead.

“When we move the ball like that, we can beat any team in the league,” Gehling said. “It was a high-scoring game. Second half, it was just back and forth.”

“We wanted to get out, and work on our fast break,” Hellige said. “The defense wasn’t there all night consistently. But it was fun to see the kids get to stretch their legs, put some points on the board.”

Luke Hellige had 21 points for Holy Trinity, which has a three-game winning streak. Layne Rung had 16 points, and Maddox Rung added 10.

Jackson Lenz led Wapello (5-11) with 19 points. Carson Belzer had 16 points. Justyn Faulkner had 13 points.