Hounds regroup late for win over Davis County

FORT MADISON - The big start for Fort Madison’s boys basketball team in Monday’s game against Davis County almost turned into a disastrous finish.
It’s happened before to the Bloodhounds this season, but this time they had an answer in Monday’s 64-54 win.
Fort Madison (6-12) snapped a four-game losing streak by holding on after nearly letting a 30-4 start to the game go to waste.
“We were just complacent,” Fort Madison coach Ryan Wilson said. “We were happy with where were at. We thought the game was over at halftime. We took our foot off the pedal and stopped driving, being aggressive, doing the things that we did in the first half.”
The Bloodhounds let a 22-point second half lead get away in a 52-50 loss to Keokuk on January 20.
In this game, they led 39-17 at halftime before Davis County (4-15) closed to with 58-54 with 2:40 to play.
“We let them back in the game and nearly had another Keokuk game,” Wilson said.
But the Bloodhounds made plays this time. Hunter Cresswell’s shot inside with a minute to play pushed the lead to 60-54. Leif Boeding came up with a steal and a layup with 43 seconds to extend the lead to eight, then scored inside with 12 seconds left for the final margin.
“Leif Boeding made some plays late,” Wilson said. “We talked, as a coaching staff, after the game, and if Leif doesn’t make all of those plays, you never know. He stepped up, got that steal. Hunter had a nice finish in the paint. That’s the difference in the game.
“Our guys were aggressive and went and got the ball, and wanted it a little bit more at the end.”
Fort Madison got off to a furious start. The Bloodhounds scored the first 14 points — 11 came from Carson Rashid — and led 23-4 at the end of the first quarter. They opened the second quarter with a 7-0 run before Davis County finally got its offense going.
The Mustangs also switched to a zone defense that would bother the Bloodhounds the rest of the game.
Rashid had 16 points at halftime, but would finish with 20.
“They went to a zone,” Wilson said. “And, I don’t know, but I feel like we went away from Carson a little bit. I thought he was open some times, and we didn’t find him. We tried to run a set or two for him, and he didn’t get a shot off or whatever. But that’s just some things we’ve got to grow and be better at.
“We just weren’t ourselves. A lot of our success early was inside-outside — we would get in the paint and then kick it out. For whatever reason, that changed, and it was frustrating.”
Boeding finished with 13 points. Cresswell added 10.
Jack Bigsby led Davis County with 17 points.