Hounds have no answers for Titan offense

FORT MADISON - Fort Madison’s boys basketball team could only do so much against West Hancock’s Cooper Knowles.
And when the Bloodhounds did find a way to keep Knowles from the ball, the rest of the Titans found ways to score.
That was a bad recipe for Fort Madison in the 83-54 loss on Tuesday night.
Knowles, a 6-foot-10 senior, finished with 26 points. But Hunter Froman had 19 points and Jordan Crowley had 15 points for the Titans as well.
“We didn’t have an answer for (Knowles), but then we tried to take him away and they hit shots,” Fort Madison coach Ryan Wilson said. “They’re a tough team to defend.”
Fort Madison’s tallest player available was Nolan Guzman, who is 6-3. Guzman drew the primary defensive duties on Knowles, and he would get the help of another defender or two if Knowles got the ball inside.
“Right now, we don’t have 6-10,” said Wilson, noting that 6-9 forward Darius Foy is out until after Christmas break. “We can’t defend 6-10. Don’t get me wrong, I thought Nolan did a great job at times, and we did some things differently and made it difficult for him at times. But you know, when they throw it up and all he has to do is go up, get it and lay it in, we don’t have an answer for that at this point.

“Give credit to him. He's a great player and he's going to go somewhere in college, and he's going to make a difference.”
Fort Madison was only down 12-11 with 2 ½ minutes left in the first quarter before West Hancock went on a 36-11 run that lasted to halftime.
“We knew coming in Knowles and Froman were their best players,” Wilson said. “We had to figure out a way to stop them, and we didn’t.”
Guzman led the Bloodhounds with 22 points. Lucas Helmick added seven.
Fort Madison fell to 0-3, with losses to Fairfield and Williamsburg last weekend. The Bloodhounds play at Mount Pleasant on Friday and then play host to Pella on Saturday.
“We talked about how we're playing hard,” Wilson said. “But at some point we've got to start making some adjustments, and it starts in practice. We've got to get better. We're a young team, very young. We're very inexperienced, and we've got to compete in practice.
“We talked about how we’ve got to make goals for what we’re going to do in practice tomorrow? What are we going to accomplish in practice tomorrow that's gonna carry over to our game on Friday at Mount Pleasant. We've just got to stay aggressive and keep to our identity and do the things we're coached to do, and it'll be okay. There's some light at the end of the tunnel soon, but right now, we've just got to stay together, continue to do our stuff and trust the process.”