Ragar leads HTC in District 9 win

FORT MADISON - Jack Ragar was playing his 22nd varsity basketball game on Monday night, but it was his first postseason game.
Asked if he was nervous, the Holy Trinity guard smiled.
“Definitely,” he said.
The start he had to the game took all of that away.
Ragar scored 21 points to lead three Crusaders in double figures as Holy Trinity defeated WACO 66-50 in a Class 1A District 9 quarterfinal at Shottenkirk Gym.
Holy Trinity (15-7), the third seed, plays at second seed Pekin on Thursday night in a semifinal.
Ragar hasn’t missed a start this season and has averaged 14.4 points per game, but the one-and-done atmosphere of the postseason is something different.
The two 3-pointers he hit in the first 2 ½ minutes of the game were calming.
“Got the nerves out of the way by hitting those threes,” he said.
Ragar then put together the type of game coach John Hellige has seen out of him all season.

“He’s a great player,” Hellige said. “We knew he was going to be a great player, and now he's got 22 games under his belt. Yeah, he's really starting to show signs of more like an upperclassman-type basketball IQ,”
WACO (11-11) focused its defense on Layne Rung, Holy Trinity’s leading scorer at 20.1 points per game. Rung was held to eight points, but Ragar, Jay Ellison (12 points) and Graeme Meredith (11) picked up the scoring slack.
Rung had just two first-quarter points, but Holy Trinity led 17-7 and stayed in control of the game.
“A lot of their key focus was on Layne,” Hellige said. “He's a great player, and any coach with any sense would have the same game plan. But I thought that there were guys that were out there who stepped up around Layne and were able to contribute and extend that lead there in the first quarter. And luckily, we got off to a good lead, because WACO is a really scrappy team.”
“We have great seniors with experience, we’ve got younger guys who can make shots,” Ragar said. “That helps.”
Ragar said he has learned plenty in his first season. Besides his scoring, he leads the Crusaders in assists per game and is also the team’s leading rebounder at seven per game.
“Defense is where I’ve learned the most,” Ragar said. “Just trying to get stops, help the offense get going while not allowing the other team to score.”
Kellen Shelman had 15 points to lead the Warriors. Niles Reichenbach and Holden Hughes had 10.
It was an emotional night for WACO, playing for the first time since the death of senior Kyler Rugg, who was killed in a car accident on Friday.
After the game, players from the two teams knelt at the midcourt circle for a prayer for Rugg.
“I thought that was cool for both teams to do that,” Hellige said. “WACO has had a really tough week, and they hung in there and gave us a tough battle tonight.”