Cresswell's buzzer beater ruins Crusaders' night

Buzzer beater

I caught it at a weird angle,” Cresswell said. “It looked like it was going to get stuffed up. I knew we only had a half of a second so I just kind of threw it up there. It was definitely lucky, but…”

Hunter Cresswell, FM Bloodhound

FORT MADISON - OK, so the play didn’t go exactly the way Ryan Wilson drew it.
But the result was perfect.
Hunter Cresswell’s basket at the buzzer gave Fort Madison a 52-51 win over city rival Holy Trinity on Saturday night at Shottenkirk Gym.
“It’s just how we drew up the game plan,” said Wilson, the Bloodhounds’ coach, celebratory tongue planted firmly in cheek. “Just how we drew it up.”
The Bloodhounds (4-7) got a win they needed. Still simmering after Friday’s 63-46 home loss to Burlington, Fort Madison nearly let a 12-point lead at the start of the quarter get away.
Instead Cresswell, with the help of the long pass from Aidan Boyer, made the play of the night to hit the game-winner.
“It was good to get this win,” Cresswell said. “It was a lot uglier than it should have been.”
Holy Trinity (4-9) took a 51-50 lead with three seconds left on Luke Hellige’s baseline layup. Wilson then called his final timeout to draw the play.
The original plan, Wilson said, was to look for Carson Rashid, one of the Bloodhounds’ best 3-point shooters.
Boyer, who threw for 14 touchdowns as Fort Madison’s quarterback this season, threw the pass to Cresswell standing inside the top of the key. The pass got over Holy Trinity’s Adam Sobczak and Cresswell caught it, spun, and shot. The ball banked off the backboard and through the net as time expired.
“I caught it at a weird angle,” Cresswell said. “It looked like it was going to get stuffed up. I knew we only had a half of a second so I just kind of threw it up there. It was definitely lucky, but…”
“Hunter is the guy who wants to take the big shot,” Wilson said. “He wants the responsibility, and he did a great job of catching the ball. And a great pass from our quarterback.”
“I told the kids in the locker room that sometimes life is tough,” Holy Trinity coach John Hellige said. “It was just a one in a million shot. Hats off to Fort Madison for drawing up a great play. Hats off to Cresswell for making a tough catch and throwing it up and catching some backboard.
“Sometimes things just don’t bounce your way.”
Cresswell led Fort Madison with 13 points.
“Our guys bounced back really well after last night’s game,” Wilson said. “Last night was a lot of emotion, a lot of physical effort, and a hard game. And I was really proud of the way we battled back and came ready to play.”
“I think we’ve still got a lot to work on, especially in the second half,” Cresswell said. “We had a lot of turnovers and stuff, but it feels good to win.”
Luke Hellige had 26 points for Holy Trinity. Conner Gehling, who topped the 500-point mark for his career, had 17.
“It’s definitely a positive, the kids played hard,” John Hellige said. “We did everything we needed to do. We just came up a little short again.”