Cresswell’s buzzer beater ruins Crusaders’ night

CROSSTOWN Clash

HTC rallied from a 12-point deficit to take the lead with one second remaining.

Posted on Saturday, January 14, 2023 10:45 pm

John Bohnenkamp for Penn City Current Sports

FORT MADISON – OK, so the show didn’t go exactly as Ryan Wilson pictured it.
But the result was perfect.
Hunter Cresswell’s basket at the buzzer gave Fort Madison a 52-51 win over cross-town rival Holy Trinity on Saturday night at Shottenkirk Gym.
“That’s the way we game-planned it,” said Wilson, the Bloodhounds coach, tongue of celebration planted firmly in cheek. “Just the way we put it together.”
The Bloodhounds (4-7) got a much-needed win. Still reeling from Friday’s 63-46 home loss to Burlington, Fort Madison nearly let a 12-point lead slip away early in the quarter.
Instead Cresswell, aided by a long pass from Aidan Boyer, made the play of the night to kick the game winner.
“It was nice 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 layup. Wilson then called his final timeout to put the game out.
The original plan, Wilson said, was to look for Carson Rashid, one of the Bloodhounds’ best 3-point shooters.
Boyer, who threw 14 touchdowns as Fort Madison’s quarterback this season, threw the pass to Cresswell standing inside the top of the key. The pass skipped past Holy Trinity’s Adam Sobczak and Cresswell caught it, spun and fired. As time passed, the ball bounced off the backboard and through the net.
“I caught it at a weird angle,” Cresswell said. “It looked like it was going to fill up. I knew we only had half a second, so I threw it up there. It was definitely lucky, but…”
“Hunter is the guy who wants to make the big shot,” Wilson said. “He wants the responsibility and has done 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 one shot in a million. Kudos to Fort Madison for designing a great game. He takes off his hats to Creswell to make a hard catch and toss him up and onto a table.
“Sometimes things just don’t jump 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 difficult game. And I was really proud of the way we fought and were ready to play.”
“I think we still have 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 scored 26 points for Holy Trinity. Conner Gehling, who topped the 500-point mark for his career, had 17 points.
“It’s definitely a positive, the kids played hard,” John Hellige said. “We did everything we had to do. We came up a little short again.”

Keywords Fort Madison, boys, Holy Trinity Catholic, rivals, Crusaders, Bloodhounds, university, sports, Pen City Current, Ryan Wilson, John Hellige, Hounds,