Hounds get early start in win over Pella

FORT MADISON - It didn’t take long for Fort Madison’s boys basketball team to get over Friday’s loss at Mount Pleasant, and that was exactly what coach Ryan Wilson wanted.

Wilson’s plan to move on in Saturday afternoon’s home game against Pella was to strike early, and set a different tone.

The Bloodhounds did just that, and then struck late at the right moment.

The result was a 55-50 win.

“It’s huge,” Wilson said of the win. “(Pella is) a great team, a great program. And our guys stepped up.”

Carson Rashid’s two free throws with 48 seconds left gave the Bloodhounds (2-2) a 51-49 lead, then Rashid and Hunter Cresswell each hit two free throws in the final 15 seconds to clinch the win

Fort Madison was coming off a 52-50 loss to Mount Pleasant on Friday. What Wilson wanted out of the Bloodhounds was what they didn’t do against the Panthers.

“We wanted to send the message early by attacking the basket,” Wilson said. “We didn’t do that last night. That’s the big difference between last night and tonight. Now, we did do it late in (Friday’s) game and it carried over to tonight. But what we did talk about last night and at this morning’s shootaround was the first five minutes of the game, we were going to dictate what this game was going to be like.”

The Bloodhounds gave up a 3-pointer to Pella’s Austin Schulte to start the game, then scored eight consecutive points, all within five feet of the basket, to take control. Fort Madison led 17-8 at the end of the first quarter and 23-16 at halftime.

“The guys responded,” Wilson said. “They were ready to go.”

But Pella (1-3) had an answer. Fort Madison’s Dayton Lamar opened the second half with a basket inside, then the Dutch scored 19 consecutive points to take a 35-25 lead.

Wilson burned two timeouts during the run which eventually seemed to calm the Bloodhounds.

“Timeouts help,” Wilson said. “I’m not trying to pat myself on the back, but they help. You’ve got to weather the storm, and that’s what we talked about. They come to the bench, down nine, and I told them, ‘Get your chins up.’ They had played so well and I told them, ‘You’re going to make mistakes.’ Whether it’s high school or college or pro, teams are going to make runs. It’s just a matter of who makes the last one.”

That last run belonged to the Bloodhounds. Down 37-27 with 33 seconds left in the third quarter, Fort Madison went on a 13-2 run, taking the lead on Julian Dear’s 3-pointer with 3:55 to play in the game.

Pella battled back, tying the game at 49 with 57 seconds left on the second of two free throws from Jack McGuire. But Rashid’s two free throws would give the Bloodhounds the lead for good.

Lamar led the Bloodhounds with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Cresswell had 12 points and Rashid added 10.

McGuire led Pella with 15 points. Schulte had 13.