John Bohnenkamp for Pen City Current Sports
DONNELLSON — Luke Hellige heard the whistle for his fifth foul, and then the horn that followed, that ended his high school basketball career.
As he stepped off the Central Lee High School basketball court, Holy Trinity coach John Hellige, Luke’s father, was waiting with a handshake and then a hug.
The Crusaders’ run came to an emotional finish on Tuesday night in a 55-46 loss to Notre Dame in the Class 1A District 8 final.
“It’s super tough,” John Hellige said. “Really difficult. We’ve spent thousands and thousands of hours together, bus rides and car rides. But I’m really trying to think back to the memories, the good run that we’ve had, and it's been fantastic.”
Holy Trinity (19-5), which reached the substate final last season, never got into a rhythm against the Nikes (19-4), who advanced to Saturday’s substate final against North Linn in Iowa City.
The Crusaders went the last 5:52 of the game without a field goal, including four missed shots inside in the last 89 seconds as they tried to rally.
“Everything that we fought for tonight was tough,” Hellige said. “There were tough shots and were very contested. Pretty physical game, maybe a little more physical than what we're used to in the Southeast Iowa Super Conference night in and night out. So I think they adjusted a little quicker than what we did to that physicality. But that’s the way it goes sometimes.”
Notre Dame led 25-21 at halftime, and then a momentum change to start the second half hurt the Crusaders.
Holy Trinity opened the half with the ball. Luke Hellige got inside the lane and made a shot as he collided with Notre Dame’s Shay Stephens. A blocking foul was called on Stephens, but after the three officials huddled, the call was overturned and changed to a double foul, with Notre Dame getting the ball on the alternating possession.
“They said there was two calls, and they have to honor both calls, so it turns into a double foul, which I've honestly never seen, where it becomes an alternate possession situation,” John Hellige said. “It’s really strange, Yeah, huge momentum shift. But, you know, you try to control what you can control.”
Notre Dame went on a 10-2 run after the play, and that left the Crusaders chasing the rest of the game.
Holy Trinity went on a 9-0 run later in the quarter to get within 35-32, but that was followed by a 10-2 run by the Nikes that went into the fourth quarter.
The Crusaders were within 50-44 when Hellige started having his team foul. Notre Dame made just 3 of 10 free throws over a stretch of 1:26, but Holy Trinity couldn’t score, missing four shots and two free throws in that span.
“I think at that point in time, we were maybe just a little bit deflated,” Hellige said. “And it's hard when you're playing from behind there to try to catch up.”
Luke Hellige led the Crusaders with 18 points. Adam Sobczak had 10.
Stephens led the Nikes with 17 points.
Holy Trinity matched a program record in wins, but John Hellige wished he could have had at least one more.
“At the end of the day, we had a great season school record on wins and losses, and the group accomplished a lot,” he said. “Wish we could have met our ultimate goal, but it just wasn't in the cards for us.
“A couple of years ago, we weren't in this place competing for substate finals and district finals. The seniors, and the junior group, really put this program on their backs and got us to where we needed to be. Hats off them for doing all they did.”
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