No. 3 Nikes quick start leads to Crusader loss

FORT MADISON - The timeouts, of course, you can’t take with you.
John Hellige almost used all of his before halftime of Holy Trinity’s 71-45 loss to No. 3 (Class 1A) Notre Dame in the Crusaders’ Homecoming game on Friday at Shottenkirk Gym.
Holy Trinity (9-6 overall, 6-6 SEISC South Division) fell behind 32-10 in the first 12 minutes of the game, and Hellige, the Crusaders’ coach, used four of his five allotted timeouts to try to come up with something to get his team going.
“I was just trying to light a spark, just trying to figure out something offensively and defensively, to get these guys playing harder, playing at a more steady pace,” Hellige said.
The Crusaders eventually showed some life in the second half, but by then the Nikes (17-0, 12-0) were well on their way to a win.
“We didn't play hard against Mediapolis (a 55-37 loss on January 6), and for some reason we didn't play hard tonight against Notre Dame,” Hellige said.
Hellige noted that Layne Rung and Corbin Van Niewaal had been battling the flu since Tuesday. “Sickness played a factor,” Hellige said. “But regardless of sickness, we didn't follow the game plan. These guys weren't up ready to play, and at the end of the day, that's on me.”
Rung, the Crusaders’ leading scorer at 20 points per game, finished with nine points. Van Niewaal, who averages almost nine points, finished with seven.
“They just didn’t have their normal energy and effort tonight,” Hellige said..

The Nikes’ biggest lead was 50-15 with 2:28 left in the third quarter, triggering a running clock under IHSAA rules. The Crusaders got to within 56-31 early in the fourth quarter to stop the running clock, and kept pace with Notre Dame the rest of the game.
“It was pretty big,” Notre Dame coach Dan Kies said of his team’s start. “It’s always a tough rivalry with them. And the big thing is we’ve had a couple of games lately where we haven't come out great in the first half. So it was about coming out and trying to get on it defensively a little bit, push the tempo, try and make people uncomfortable a little bit. I thought that was pretty huge for us to just be aggressive and really kind of step up defensively, get after it, and then push the tempo down the floor.”
That was what Hellige wanted to avoid.
“They did exactly what we game-planned them not to do,” Hellige said. “They got out, ran in transition, got easy buckets. We didn't get back, we didn't rebound, we turned it over. All of that, we knew we couldn’t do.”
Jack Ragar led the Crusaders with 12 points.
Shay Stephens led Notre Dame with 21 points. Griffin Kies had 20 and Payne Prottsman added 13.
“It’s hard for Shay, just because everybody keys on him so much,” Dan Kies said. “And of course, you have to key on him. So it's hard for him, but he's also willing to share the ball with guys. Sometimes, I think especially earlier in the year, there were times where guys would just kind of stand around and just watch. But we’ve got different guys that are just starting to kind of have improved as the year has gone on. Some of the shooting has gotten better. Some of them getting to the boards are better, a lot of different things. So it's nice to see other guys contribute.”
Holy Trinity has a three-game week next week — at New London Tuesday, at home against Wapello on Thursday and at Mediapolis on Friday.
“We’re going to give them the weekend off, with Homecoming and everything, and to get them rested,” Hellige said. “On Monday we’ll get back at it again, because it’s a big week.”