Hounds jump on Demons early in quarters

FORT MADISON - The memory was fresh, and that was important.
Fort Madison’s 72-50 win over Washington in Monday’s Class 3A Substate 6 quarterfinal was built on what happened the last time the Bloodhounds played the Demons.
Fort Madison took a 90-87 double-overtime win on February 7 in a game where Washington had 14 3-pointers.
No way, senior guard Julian Dear said, was that going to happen this time.
“I mean, they made 10 threes in, like, the first half,” Dear said. “The rim was huge for them. We know how they play. They are a very good offensive team. So we knew we had to play defense if we wanted to win.”
The Bloodhounds (13-9) held Washington to just five first-quarter points, led 36-20 at halftime, and kept the pressure on in the second half to advance to Thursday’s 7 p.m. semifinal at third-ranked Knoxville (22-0).
“A lot of good defense early on,” Fort Madison coach Ryan Wilson said.
Washington had 46 points in the first half of that previous game, including 27 in the first quarter. The goal, Wilson said, was to get out front big early, which is what the Bloodhounds did. They closed the first quarter on a 16-0 run to lead 21-5, holding the Demons without a point over the last 5 ½ minutes.

“I don’t know if it was the potential shot blockers around the rim or whatever, but they didn’t finish,” Wilson said. “We got those rebounds, got out, and ran.”
The Bloodhounds had big first quarters in all three games against the Demons this season — 22 in the first matchup on January 3, and then 21 in the next two matchups.
“Which was a big goal of ours, to get that in three straight games against them,” Wilson said. “And we knew if we could do that and not let them score 27 like they did a couple weeks ago here, we have a great chance.”
The Bloodhounds’ biggest lead was 49-22 in the second half after going on a 10-0 run.
Logan McDole, who scored 34 points against the Bloodhounds in the last game, led Washington with 23 points. Rajan Roth had 10 points.
Four Fort Madison players scored in double figures. Darius Foy had 17 points, Dear had 15, and Dayton Lamar and Nolan Guzman each had 14. Kenden Bowie nearly made it five, but finished with nine points.
That kind of balance is important, especially in the postseason.
“It’s huge,” Dear said. “Teams like Knoxville, they don't know Fort Madison. They have two really good players, so we know who we have to stop for them. Guarding us. I mean, we have five players that can give you (big games). It could be anyone's night any night. So I think we're a really difficult team to guard, and just our team size is huge for us.”
“We had four guys averaging in double figures going into tonight,” Wilson said. “I have told the boys, that’s what we need. There’s been times where Dayton scored 30 or Nolan scored 30 or 27 and Julian has been up there in the 20s. We've had different scorers each night. We have that capability, and we have that unselfishness, and that's something we've got to continue to build off of going into Thursday night and just continue to play good team basketball, both offensively and defensively.”