FORT MADISON – There’s a magic to momentum.
An impact that’s not physically real, but palpable to anyone who’s up against it.
That invisible force rolled over the Fort Madison Bloodhounds Friday night as Keokuk erased a 22-point deficit to get an improbable Southeast Conference win.
It was the Chiefs’ first conference win in two years.
The Hounds played some of their cleanest ball of the year in the first half, not unnoticed to Head Coach Ryan Wilson.
The Hounds opened with a basket in less than four seconds when Leif Boeding got open on the second pass off the tip to score along the baseline.
Fort Madison would push the lead to 9-4, but the Chiefs would come back to tie things at 9 and then again at 15 in the first period. After starting 3-of-3 from the field, the Hounds then missed six of their next eight shots from the floor.
Down 11-13, Dayton Lamar scored inside on a nice interior loft pass from Boeding to Lamar on the blocks who scored to tie things at 13. Lamar would finish with 10 points, all in the first half.
The Hounds would get a stop on the Chiefs' next possession, and then Hunter Cresswell would score on a double move underneath to get the Hounds a 15-13 lead after one.
It was all Fort Madison in the second half as they went on a 14-5 run behind Lamar’s eight points.
Holding a 29-18 lead at the half, Fort Madison came out of the locker room looking as if they would put the game away early.
Boeding picked the Chiefs' pocket in the halfcourt and raced down for a layup to put the Hounds up 38-18, while the Hounds' defense held Keokuk scoreless until 5:24 left in the third period.
Then momentum swung Keokuk’s direction and the mysterious energy would carry the Chiefs down the stretch as the Chiefs went on a 34-8 run, trailing by 22 at 40-18. Boeding would score for Fort Madison to make it 42-18 and then the wheels fell of the Hounds’ train.
“It was selfish basketball,” Wilson said. “We didn’t want to do the things we were doing in the first half. We had guys trying to dribble through the press, guys trying to dribble between two and three guys at a time, guys who wanted to shoot instead of making a pass to the open guy. We did didn’t play team basketball.”
Keokuk sophomore Brenton Hoard and junior Diego Garcia took turns chipping away at the Hounds' defense, while a smothering press seemed to confuse and frustrate the Hounds down the stretch.
The two led all scorers on the night. Garcia with 23 and Hoard with 19. But it was Garcia’s bucket with 1.2 seconds left on the clock that proved to be the downfall for Fort Madison.
Garcia scored from four feet out over a couple Hounds trying to get in the way of the bucket. The ball hit the back of the rim and bounced up and through. Wilson called and granted a time out. Officials put 1.2 seconds back on the clock.
Fort Madison employed a play that allowed them to win with no time on the clock at Holy Trinity last week. Senior Aidan Boyer again found Hunter Cresswell this time outside the three point lane. Cresswell turned and got a shot off before the buzzer, but it sailed high, hitting the top of the backboard and bouncing harmlessly to the floor, securing the win for Keokuk.
Cresswell finished with 12 points on the night. Carson Rashid had 14 for Fort Madison.
Wilson said the Hounds played “phenomenal” through the first half and into the third quarter. “It was beautiful for the first 19 minutes. We shared the ball, we moved the ball, we played defense, and then all of a sudden it was ‘I’m gonna get steals’ or ‘I don’t wanna come out’.
We don’t trust the process,” he said.
“We don’t let the coaches coach and referees ref. We let all these things into our head.”
Keokuk got hot from the field, hitting 12 of 16 during the run, and six of nine from the free throw line. In the meantime, the Bloodhounds committed six turnovers in about four minutes in the third period as the Chiefs got within eight at 45-37.
A 3-ball from Brenton Hoard from the right baseline tied the game up with 1:56 left at 48-all. Garcia would score after another Hound turnover to give Keokuk its first lead since the first quarter. Carson Rashid would score on a couple free throws with 19 seconds left to tie it up at 50, but Garcia would then get his bucket with just over a tick left, forcing the Hounds' hail mary at the buzzer.
Wilson said the Hounds just lost their way.
“We’re trying to dribble through the heart of a press, and then we’re trying to attack the lane and Eurostop between two defenders instead of a jump stop and make the next pass,” Wilson said.
“We all wanted to be heroes tonight. We didn’t have one single hero in the first 19 minutes. We moved the ball - it was poetry in motion. It was great - until it wasn’t."
Fort Madison falls to 4-8 overall and 1-6 in the Southeast Conference, while Keokuk moves ahead at 5-8 (1-5). The Hounds host Clark County (1-6) on Tuesday at the Hound Dome.
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