HTC pounds Warriors by almost 50 Friday night

KEOSAUQUA – Luke Hellige continued his hot shooting with 26 points in the Crusaders’ 69-20 win over host Van Buren County Friday night.
Hellige is 5th in the state in Class 1A scoring with 347 points just 19 out of the top three. The junior ripped off four 3-balls in the first half enroute to 16 as Holy Trinity overcame a sluggish start for the second game in a row and opened up a 39-13 first half lead.
HTC didn’t take a lead until two minutes left in the first quarter, but then went on a 34-7 run to set the tone for the rest of the game. It was a similar start to the Crusaders Thursday night win over Wapello where the Indians opened with an 8-0 run prompting a time out from Head Coach John Hellige and Holy Trinity rolled from there.
On Friday it was all HTC from that point on as the Crusader defense held the Warriors to just six points in the third quarter and then just one in the final period as both teams emptied benches.
Layne Rung had 18 points for the Hounds. Rung usually gets his points outside the 3-point line but had just two Friday night scoring six buckets inside. Conner Gehling had 14 after a 31-point performance Thursday against Wapello.
Adam Sobczak has been a big part of the Crusaders’ offense away from points. Sobczak has 116 assists on the year and that number is best in the state in all classes.
Izaak Loeffler had eight points for Van Buren, while Lucas Fett chipped in with 10.
HTC stands at 12-4 on the year and 8-3 in SEISC play 3.5 games behind undefeated West Burlington. Van Buren is 2-13 overall and 0-12 in conference action.
Holy Trinity hosts Mediapolis on Monday and then hosts cross-county rival Central Lee who gave West Burlington all they wanted Thursday before knocking off Danville Friday night.