Holy Trinity upends Warriors in second half

KEOSAUQUA ? Van Buren?s foul trouble started early, and it ultimately caught up with them in the second half against Holy Trinity.

After hanging close for the first two quarters, the Warriors (5-7, 5-6 SEISC south) were never able to wrangle control, and the Crusaders (11-3, 9-3) ran away with a 68-49 victory Tuesday night.

Van Buren big men Colin Weaver and Ryne Smith were saddled with three fouls entering the second half. Smith was lost for good mid-way through the third quarter and Weaver drew his fourth on an offensive charging call moments later. The third-quarter whistles ran side-by-side with a Holy Trinity run that gave it a lead for good.

Following Caleb Millard?s 3-pointer that made the score 35-31, Holy Trinity piled up a 12-1 run over the final four minutes of the third period. Mitch Moeller hit from deep and Brady Roth banked another in at the buzzer to put the score at 47-32 entering the fourth quarter.

?The thing that hurt us is that we didn?t have practice [Monday],? said Van Buren head coach Fred Parsons. ?We have to practice. That hurt us more than anything else, and we weren?t organized. Holy Trinity was too quick, and you really have to know what you?re doing defensively.?

The Warriors haven?t had a practice since last Thursday thanks to games Friday and Saturday and school cancellation on Monday.

Elliott Remick hit his third 3-pointer of the night to open the fourth quarter for Van Buren, but Ben Rector answered immediately to push the lead back to 15 points and the deficit never broke 12 points. Weaver was lost to fouls with 6:10 remaining after scoring seven points.

Remick finished with 15 points to lead Van Buren.

The Warriors battled back from a sluggish start to take an 11-10 lead at the first break following a Weaver jumper. It was their only lead of the game, and started a trend of Holy Trinity putting together a run each time Van Buren got itself in back in the game.

The Crusaders responded with a 7-0 spurt to start the second quarter, and after Van Buren climbed back to tie it at 20 late in the first half, Holy Trinity?s 12-2 burst stretched into the third quarter.

Josh Fullenkamp scored 19 down low to lead Holy Trinity, and Zach Bartlett added 15. Zach Boyd came up with 10 points for Van Buren and Millard scored five.

After starting the season with four straight losses, Van Buren came up with five straight wins. But the schedule has turned sour once again and the Warriors find themselves on a three-game skid.

For complete story, read the Wednesday, January 19, 2011 Fairfield Ledger.