HTC boys hang with WACO in opener

HTC's Luke Hellige drives on a WACO defender Monday night at Shottenkirk Gymnasium.

Photo by Chuck Vandenberg/PCC

The first three quarters of Holy Trinity’s boys basketball season opener on Monday night was what coach John Hellige wanted.
The fourth quarter was what the Crusaders need to use as a lesson for the rest of the season.
WACO pulled away in the final eight minutes to take a 66-52 win.
The Warriors used a 20-6 run to take command of the game after the Crusaders were within 41-35 at the end of the third quarter.
“I think we got a little bit tired,” Hellige said. “The legs wore down on us a little bit and we lost a little bit of focus. I think it just led to some breakdowns on defense and offense.”
Conner Gehling led Holy Trinity with 22 points.
The Crusaders, who had stayed close to the Warriors all night, surrendered back-to-back 3-pointers to WACO’s Isaac Oswald, who to that point hadn’t scored. Those two shots gave the Warriors a 47-35 lead, and the Crusaders didn’t have an answer.
“It’s not necessarily what we’re doing today in November,” Hellige said. “We’re playing for February.
We’ve got a quarter of our offense put in at this point.”
Both teams struggled to get points early — WACO led just 10-6 at the end of the first quarter.
But the two offenses responded in the second quarter, with Holy Trinity taking a 21-17 run sparked by a 12-2 run led by Luke Hellige, who had 11 of his 13 points in the first three minutes of the quarter.
“It was nice to see Luke be able to step out and hit some threes early,” John Hellige said. “He realizes defenses are going to figure that out. All summer long, he was finishing at the rim, and we’ve got to see that to keep defenses honest. Otherwise, they’re going to just hard close out on him every time.”
The Crusaders trailed just 29-26 at halftime.
“I can’t say enough about how the kids came out in the first half,” Hellige said. “We had a little bit of tough luck making some baskets early on, but once we got going, we played really well.
“I’m really happy with that first half, and we’re just going to build upon that.”