BURLINGTON – The 2023 basketball season is turning into a season of moments for the Fort Madison Bloodhounds.
The Hounds dropped a 55-52 loss to Burlington Notre Dame Saturday afternoon after leading by 12 at the end of the first half.
The moment was when senior Hunter Cresswell was gouged on his left eyelid causing a laceration that required butterfly stitches on scene to close. Cresswell didn’t return until less than three minutes were left in the third quarter with a swollen eye.
But during that five-minute span, the absence of Creswell, who’s averaging close to 13 points and seven boards per outing, was felt by the Hounds as the Nikes cut the lead to six at 36-30 on a bucket by Caden Schwenker. Schwenker would then convert two freethrows after a foul on the next Fort Madison possession to make it a 36-32 game.
Fort Madison would go scoreless the rest of the quarter as the Nikes cut the lead to three. A 3-pointer by the Hounds’ Carson Rashid would rim out at the horn as Notre Dame went on a 13-4 run in the third period.
The Nikes’ Gedi Boal would convert a 3-ball to tie things at 36 capping a 16-4 run to open the 4th period.
Junior Dayton Lamar would get two of his nine points on the night on a move inside and, after a couple stops, junior Julian Dear would convert down low for a 40-36 Bloodhound lead.
They would hold that lead and even stretch it to seven at 45-38 when Leif Boeding converted the front end of a pair of freethrows with 3:28 left in the game. Notre Dame would then hold the Hounds scoreless from the field until Cresswell scored inside with just :08 seconds left.
During that span, the Nikes would outscore Fort Madison 15-6 and took a 52-50 lead with a minute left. Notre Dame put full court pressure on the Hounds after Nikes’ head coach Dan Kies called a timeout with 1:47 left in the game.
The pressure worked as Fort Madison committed back-to-back turnovers with an errant pass from Cresswell, followed by Dear losing the handle bringing the ball up against the Nike pressure. Both turnovers resulted in buckets by the Nikes.
Cresswell’s bucket in the final moments cut the lead to one at 53-52 and prompted a time out by Wilson. A quick foul by Boeding to stop the clock put the Nikes' Shay Stephens at the line to sink two freethrows. Fort Madison got the ball into Rashid’s hands, who got a shot off, but it went off the iron to the right and into the hands of Boeding who threw up another last second shot that came up short.
Notre Dame opened the game with an early three-point lead, but Fort Madison would take control with about two minutes left in the first quarter. Dear converted a nice scoop layup from the right to give the Bloodhounds a 9-8 lead that they wouldn’t relinquish until the fourth quarter. Dear’s bucket triggered a 6-0 run to end the period. Fort Madison would stretch the 15-8 lead to 32-20 at the end of the first half.
Wilson said the Hounds struggled to find a rhythm without Cresswell out of the halftime break.
"I think we just kinda got into a zone where we didn’t have Hunter. The guys didn’t know what to do or how to react. Just didn’t come out ready to go,” Wilson said.
“Whether he’s in foul trouble or he’s hurt, our guys have to know what to do.”
Wilson said the Hounds were doing a great job attacking in the first half, but couldn’t get things turned around.
Nolan Guzman, who regularly comes off the bench at the five-minute mark of the first quarter, is tied with Cresswell in scoring at 12.8 points per game. The sophomore has been impactful at big times for the Hounds, including a 3-pointer just before the horn at the end of the first half.
“We need that sparkplug. He’s playing a lot of minutes whether he’s starting or not, and I feel he’s comfortable coming off the bench. It’s a good role for him,” Wilson said.
“He’s a good player and he does some good things for us.”
Aside from the Cresswell injury and resulting third quarter doldrums, Wilson said it was the final two minutes that did in the Hounds.
“When we turned the ball over and couldn’t handle the pressure,” he said.
“We’ve got four guards that played varsity last year and we’ve played five games now. We got complacent. But I get it - when you run the press, it works on people. It worked on us tonight unfortunately, and it forced into some turnovers and bad decisions. We gotta be better in those situations.”
Cresswell led Fort Madison with 12 points. Dear had 11, while Lamar and Guzman each had nine. Gedi Boal and Liam Delaney each had 14 for Notre Dame.
The Hounds (3-3, 2-1) have two more games before the Christmas break. They host Southeast Conference foe Washington on Tuesday and then travel all the way to Mt. Vernon on Thursday to start the holiday break.
On Friday, Fort Madison downed Burlington on a bucket by Nolan Guzman with two seconds left on the clock on a fast break for a 52-50 win on the road. The win snapped a nine-game losing streak to the Grayhounds. Cresswell again led the Hounds with 20 points. Guzman had 14.
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