John Bohnenkamp for Pen City Current Sports
MEDIAPOLIS — Holy Trinity boys basketball coach John Hellige said his team wasn’t going to be looking back after Tuesday’s 59-55 overtime loss at Mediapolis.
But Hellige knew his team had missed a chance at what would have been a good road win in SEI Superconference South Division play early in the season.
The Crusaders put together an impressive fourth-quarter comeback, but couldn’t finish off the Bulldogs.
“The old adage is the rear-view mirror is smaller than the windshield,” Hellige said. “So we’ve got to put this behind us. It’s a disappointing loss against a very well-coached Mediapolis team.”
The Crusaders, employing a 1-2-2 zone in the second half, went on a 16-0 run to take a 51-47 lead with 4:49 to play in the fourth quarter, but they would score just two points the rest of the quarter and only two in the overtime.
“We really had them going and tried to step on their throat there to put them away,” Hellige said. “We just couldn’t do it. Hats off to Mediapolis for coming back the way they did.”
Holy Trinity took a 53-51 lead with 13 seconds left in the fourth quarter, but Mediapolis’ Jackson Hutcheson was fouled with 4.7 seconds remaining. Hutcheson made both free throws to send the game to overtime.
Mediapolis scored first in the overtime on Will Luttenegger’s basket at the 2:35 mark. Luke Hellige’s baseline drive tied the game, then the Bulldogs (2-1 overall, 2-1 division) responded with a baseline jumper from Ben Wolter.
The Crusaders had a chance to tie the game, but lost the ball out of bounds with 43 seconds remaining. Mediapolis worked to drain the shot clock, then Hutcheson’s basket right before the shot clock responded clinched the win.
“We probably could have fouled there,” John Hellige said. “The thought process was tough defense, run the shot clock down, and then run a play to get a tying or winning shot.”
Mediapolis, which led 27-26 at halftime, pulled away in the third quarter with a 20-9 run before the Crusaders (2-2, 1-2) rallied.
“Today we didn’t bring the energy defensively that we should have,” Hellige said. “For whatever reason, we struggled with communication out there. Guys were getting around us, and we were leaving shooters open.”
Luke Hellige led Holy Trinity with 31 points. Layne Rung and Conner Gehling each had 10.
The Crusaders play at New London on Friday.
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