Rung hits for 25 as HTC outlasts Falcons

WEST BURLINGTON — It’s becoming a big week for Holy Trinity’s boys basketball team.
It may be a pivotal week to start the rest of the season for the Crusaders.
Holy Trinity won its third consecutive game of the week on Friday night, defeating West Burlington 59-51 in an SEISC South Division game.
The Crusaders (7-5 overall, 5-5 division) play host to city rival Fort Madison in Saturday’s 4 p.m. game at Shottenkirk Gym with a chance to complete an impressive six days.
“The team is really starting to mature a little bit,” coach John Hellige said. “You can sense that little by little, they're learning what it takes to win games.”
Hellige challenged his team for its effort after a 55-37 loss to Mediapolis on January 6. Since then, the Crusaders took Central Lee to double overtime before losing, then defeated Winfield-Mount Union 51-34 on Monday, followed by a 74-30 win over Danville on Tuesday.
They took control of this game in the second half, going on a 14-4 run after the game was tied at 36 with 4:12 left in the third quarter.

“They’ve come back and played super good for me (after the loss to Mediapolis),” Hellige said. “It was a little bit of a downer for the Mediapolis game — not taking anything away from Mediapolis, we just didn’t come ready to play that night. So, the last four games, we’ve really played well. We didn’t get all four, but we won three and we took Central Lee to double overtime.”
West Burlington (8-5, 6-5) did make a late run at the Crusaders. Holy Trinity led 52-42 with 1:51 to play before the Falcons got 3-pointers from Ari Jannings and Cayson Brown 10 seconds apart. West Burlington had a chance to cut into the lead more, but Ayden Figuereo missed a jumper.
Holy Trinity then wrapped up the game, with two free throws from freshman Jack Ragar, a layup from Nathan Box, two more free throws from Layne Rung, and 1-of-2 free throws from Jay Ellison.
Rung finished with 25 points. Ragar had 14 points. Corbin Van Niewaal had 12.
“Layne is really coming into his own — he’s a heck of a player,” Hellige said. “Jack, a lot of times he plays like an upperclassman, just the way he handles himself. He’s come a long way this season. Jay’s worked hard — he’s been in the gym every day since last year — and he made some good plays out there. Corbin had a good breakout night, played really well, and we need our bigs to score. And you can always count on Nate to get a couple of baskets and make the hustle plays.”
Now the Crusaders get their down-the-street rival.
“One more big one tomorrow, and it should be a fun one,” Hellige said. “Crosstown rival, three blocks away. It doesn't get more fun than that.”