Hounds move up with 57-51 win at BHS

BURLINGTON – Fort Madison head coach Ryan Wilson got an early Christmas present Friday.
Wilson rode the 23 points of junior Nolan Guzman and the suppressive defense of senior Julian Dear to a 57-51 Southeast Conference win over Burlington Friday night at Johannson Gym inside Burlington High School.
It was the 100th win of his career.
“It’s pretty cool,” Wilson said of the 100 wins. “Obviously, it was something that I wanted last year. It’s been a fun 10 years and I’ve been very fortunate to have the players come through that we have had.”
The win moves Fort Madison into a tie for second place in the conference after dropping the season-opener to Fairfield. Washington is atop the league at 3-0. Burlington and Fort Madison are both 2-1.
Fort Madison opened with an early lead but Burlington came rushing back in the first quarter despite opening the game 0-7 from the field. Burlington’s CJ Chandler broke the drought with a 3-ball. Kobe Edmunds followed with a bucket and foul shot for a 6-4 lead Burlington lead. Dear would bring Fort Madison back with a couple free throws and then a nifty move in the lane in transition after senior Dayton Lamar blocked a DaMarrius Maxwell shot underneath. Nehemiah Lewis’ 3-pointer with :24 seconds left in the first period gave Burlington a 13-12 lead.
Fort Madison would then convert six of its first seven from the field to start the second period with Guzman scoring seven straight for the Hounds in the middle of a 15-6 run. He would score again in transition when Dear stripped the ball at half court and found Guzman ahead for a bucket and 27-19 Bloodhound lead.
Maxwell would keep the Grayhounds in it scoring inside, while Lewis was handling the outside shooting. Lewis hit a 3-ball from the left wing with :24 left in the half. Guzman would counter with a bucket after two misses on the Fort Madison end, but Maxwell would score the final points of the half to cut the lead to three 32-29.
Guzman had 17 in the first half to pace the Bloodhounds.
Fort Madison would open up a five-point lead two minutes into the third quarter, but a rare 4-point play cut the lead to one. Burlington’s Maxwell hit inside and was fouled by Lamar. He missed the bonus, but the Grayhounds pulled down the rebound, missed their next two putbacks and then Lewis cleaned things up with a bucket to make it 37-36.
Kenden Bowie would counter at the 5:01 mark to put Fort Madison back up by three 39-36.  Burlington would get its final lead of the game when Laderrias Shealey converted inside for a 40-39 lead, but Lamar would put the Hounds on his shoulders in the fourth quarter. Lamar opened with a couple buckets inside off nice assists from Bowie off the right side of the half-court. Lewis would counter with back-to-back 3-balls. Lewis would lead BHS with 17 points on the night.
With the Grayhounds up 47-46, Dear got another of his eight steals on the night and put the Hounds in their half-court set. Jackson Guzman rimmed one off from about 14 feet in the lane, but Bowie came flying in from the right, picked the rebound clean and flushed it two-handed to bring the Fort Madison section to their feet.
He would repeat the feat in the next Hound possession with a slam from the left and Fort Madison pulled away.
The one down side for Fort Madison was the starting five played the entire game less about 90 seconds in the second quarter when Lucas Helmick gave Lamar a break.

Wilson said his core group works hard, but after the break they’re going to have to find some depth. Darius Foy, a 6’8” center will rejoin the team after the holiday break.
“Our guys practice hard. They’re a little tired but it’s one of these groups that we have to lean on,” Wilson said.
“We have four seniors and junior and we want to get other kids in. At some point I have to but they're all fresh/soph. We’re going to have 17 games in six weeks after Christmas and we’re going to have to go to the bench.”
Dear said he’s fine playing all 32 minutes.
“I don’t want to come out of the game, honestly, so I’m glad Coach Wilson trusts us to be able to play the whole game,” Dear said.
“We have to be smart about it and stay out of foul trouble.”
Dear was whistled for a technical in the first half when he felt he was bumped after dropping a three-pointer from the left wing to put Fort Madison up by nine 30-21.
Wilson said Dear and Guzman push each other in live game and practice situations and they know each other on the court.
“Julian’s our best defender and when he’s in that mode it’s tough to score on him. Late we put him on Nehemiah,” Wilson said. “Nehemiah was kinda doing whatever he wanted and we made that adjustment to put Julian on him and mix it up. We ran Guzman at him too a little bit to get (the ball) out of his hands.
“Guzman is super athletic. You should see him and Julian get after it in practice. He’s a special kid. Has a knack for the ball and he’s played a lot.”
Dear said Fort Madison is starting to feel like they can play with most teams. He said Monday’s loss to Pella was an indication that Fort Madison can run with good teams, but the Burlington game is special each season.
“Burlington is the hardest game you play almost every season because of the environment and everything, I know coming here I have to play 10 times harder than normal and for me that shows up in the defense,” Dear said.
After Guzman’s 23, Lamar had 13, Dear finished with 11 and Kenden Bowie added 10.
Lewis’ 17 paced Burlington and Maxwell finished with 13 for the Grayhounds.
Fort Madison is off now until after the break when they travel to Washington on Jan. 3 for a chance to move into a tie for first in the conference with a win.