Hounds lose handle on 4th quarter in loss to Keokuk

TURNOVERS

They did a good job of digging in on us and getting deflections and steals but we just turned it over in the fourth quarter and that was the ball game.”

Ryan Wilson, FMHS boys basketball coach

KEOKUK – An uncharacteristic string of late turnovers all but ended Fort Madison’s hope of a run at the Southeast Conference title this season.
The Bloodhounds (5-3, 7-7) fell a full two games back of front-runner Mt. Pleasant  (7-1, 11-4) after falling on the road to Keokuk 56-46 in a rare Wednesday night make-up game.
“One of our goals to win conference just became extremely hard, if not impossible, But the season’s not over. We’ve got Washington Friday, followed by Clark County, followed by Keokuk, Muscatine, and Ottumwa. It’s all about post-season seeding now and, if we can get a few more wins, we’ll see what happens,” said Head Coach Ryan Wilson.
Fort Madison came out with confidence, hitting three 3-pointers to open the game including two by senior Leif Boeding both from the right side of the half-court offense for a 9-4 lead early. But Keokuk’s 6-9 Jaxon Clark scored nine of Keokuk’s first 11 points including a 3-ball that cut the lead to just two. Fort Madison would get buckets from Carson Rashid and Dayton Lamar, who leaped above Clark to score on a jumper in the lane.
Keokuk’s Bodie Beagles countered with a bucket at the other end to tie things at 13 and then Brenton Hoard would hit a 3-ball at the horn to give Keokuk a 16-13 lead after one.
The Chiefs shot just 3-of-10 from the field in the second quarter. The Hounds also hit on three buckets from the field to hold the deficit at three through the period and trailed 24-21 at the half.
Clark would open the scoring for the Chiefs in the third period with a bucket but Lamar would score again inside off a Dear 3-point miss. Senior Hunter Cresswell would score inside off a nifty pass in from the blocks from Boeding to tie things up at 26.
The two would tie things up again at 31 and a three from Trammell Smith would give Keokuk a 34-31 lead. Cressell would convert two freethrows with about :45 left in the period to cut the lead to one and Rashid missed a three at the horn to leave Fort Madison down by 1 at the end of the third period.
Keokuk would then go on a 15-4 run to start the fourth period with Fort Madison’s only buckets coming from Lamar on a pass from Rashid and then Cresswell scored inside on a slide from Dear driving from the top of the offense.
Clark would score seven for Keokuk in the middle of the run giving Keokuk a 49-37 lead. Fort Madison wouldn’t get closer than 10 the rest of the way while the Chiefs hit 9-of-10 freethrows down the stretch to ice the game.
Wilson said fatigue could have been a factor in the late Keokuk run.
“Coulda been legs, I don’t know,” Wilson said.
“We didn’t take care of the basketball. We talked about that before the game, taking care of the basketball and then we turned it over a lot late. I thought we did a great job of getting to the basket and either dumping it or shooting an open shot, but in the fourth quarter it seemed like we got a little passive. I’m not sure what the reason was for the change there.
“They did a good job of digging in on us and getting deflections and steals but we just turned it over in the fourth quarter and that was the ball game.”
Lamar led Fort Madison with 13 points followed by Cresswell with 12. Boeding had 10 to round out the Bloodhounds in double figures.
Fort Madison travels to Washington in a girls/boys doubleheader Friday night.