Hounds improve but still searching for first win

Improvement

If we would have played this way for four quarters last night, not just two, we would have won and would have won at Mt. Pleasant.”

Ryan Wilson, FMHS Boys Head Coach

FORT MADISON - The gears are just starting to turn for the Fort Madison Bloodhound boys basketball team.

But shifting the gear is still a problem as the Hounds fell 52-45 to visiting Mt. Vernon in a Saturday afternoon tilt at the Hound Dome.

The Hounds fall to 0-3 on the year, but Head Coach Ryan Wilson said the Hounds would be 2-1 if they played the two previous games the way they played against the Mustangs Saturday.

"A huge step forward today as a varsity team," he said.

"If we would have played this way for four quarters last night, not just two, we would have won and would have won at Mt. Pleasant."

The Hounds spotted Mt. Vernon a 4-0 lead early but battled back to take an 8-6 lead on a 3-ball from Hunter Cresswell.

The Mustangs' Zach Fall converted on a floater in the lane to tie things up at 8. The two would tie it up again at 13 after a Leif Boeding three for the Hounds and a bucket inside by Ryne Moeller for Mt. Vernon.

The Mustangs would go on a 6-2 run to wrap up the first quarter when senior Joe Rhomburg would hit a 3 at the buzzer for a 19-15 lead.

Fort Madison would trail the rest of the first half but would go into the locker room down by just one at 25-24 when Dayton Lamar converted a couple free throws.

Both teams were whistled for 3-second violations in the final minute of the half, one of four 3-second calls on the night.

Lamar finished with 11 points on the night and dominated the boards when he was on the floor.

Wilson said they were bringing the sophomore along slowly and working him into schemes as the Hounds find their identity.

"As much (time) as he can handle really. He's only a sophomore, but his presence is huge offensively and defensively," Wilson said.

"We need to find a way to get him and Hunter and Aidan (Boyer) on the floor at the same time.

"Hunter is very unselfish with the ball and makes things happen. With both of them on the floor, we can move Hunter to the perimeter and he can get to the basket. But we need to find ways to make that work."

Fort Madison would tie things up at 29 with 4:17 left in the third. Mt. Vernon would mount another run, scoring six straight until Cresswell hit a 3 from the left baseline to cut the lead to 35-32.

Mt. Vernon led 39-35 going into the final period and Fort Madison would get as close as 2 when Cresswell converted a couple free throws with 5:24 left in the game.

The Mustangs again would have a six-point answer to go up 47-39. Leif Boeding scored Fort Madison's last four points, including a 3-ball from the top of the key to cut the lead to five at 50-45, but the Hounds were out of timeouts and had to foul to stop the clock with less than 30 seconds left.

Mt. Vernon would convert the last two free throws to seal the win.

"This was our first late game situation and they looked a little shy,... timid and not sure what they wanted to do," Wilson said.

The Hounds were 11-14 from the free throw line, but committed 20 turnovers, six in the fourth quarter.

Cresswell finished with 14, to go with Lamar's and Carson Rashid's 11 each.  Boeding finished with nine for the Hounds.

The Hounds (0-3, 0-2) will have four more games in the next ten days before the holiday break.

They play at Williamsburg Tuesday and then have back-to-back games at Keokuk on Friday and then Saturday in the River Rivalry Series.

Fort Madison will play Centralia at 12:30 at Keokuk High School in the River series.