Hounds a step slow in substate semis

KNOXVILLE — Knoxville looked fast on the videos Fort Madison coach Ryan Wilson saw in preparation for Thursday’s Class 3A Substate 6 semifinal.
The Panthers were just as quick in real life, and the Bloodhounds found that out early in the 83-44 loss.
Knoxville (23-0), which advanced to host next Monday’s final against Keokuk, built a 13-2 lead in the first four minutes of the game and Fort Madison (13-10) didn’t have an answer.
“They’re quick and athletic, and they play hard, play together,” Wilson said. “We were just a few steps short, a few steps slower, tonight. We didn’t talk on defense, and we didn’t do the things we normally do.”
The fury extended into the second quarter, as Knoxville built a 39-9 lead with 1:23 left in the quarter. Senior Landen Norris had 17 of his game-high 27 points in the first half, while his brother Lincoln had 11 of his 14 points in the half.
“When you’ve got a tall and athletic guy like (Landen Norris), he can shoot the ball and get to the basket,” Wilson said. “And we knew (Lincoln Norris) could catch and shoot everything. We were just a step slow on getting to both of them.”

Fort Madison finally showed some life to end the first half, scoring the final six points, and was only outscored 21-20 in the third quarter. But the damage had been done.
“Our shot selection wasn't the greatest for most of the first half,” Wilson said. “We settled a lot, I thought, offensively, but a lot of that was their defense, stripping the ball, knocking the ball out. They were aggressive, very handsy, and so I don't know if that caused our guys to stop attacking and settle for some pull-ups. The times we got the ball inside, we were successful.
“We went into halftime on that 6-0 run, and we talked about just trying to come back a little bit at a time. Our third quarter was OK, but we needed more.”
It was 60-37 when Knoxville went on an 18-0 run in the fourth quarter, sending the game into a running-clock situation with 4:15 left.
Darius Foy led Fort Madison with 11 points, all in the second half. Dayton Lamar, Julian Dear, Nolan Guzman and Kenden Bowie each had six points.
Fort Madison loses four seniors — Dear, Lamar, Bowie and Jackson Guzman — from a team that won the Southeast Conference title.
“I say to the seniors every year, how can they answer the question, ‘Did you leave the program in better hands than it was before? Is it a better situation?’” Wilson said. “These seniors can definitely say yes, because it was our first conference title in 10 years. You had some great moments. You had some not-so-great moments, tonight, being one of them, But I’m very proud of the seniors. We're very appreciative of the senior class and what they did and what they did for our program. And you know, they'll be missed.”