Hampton-Dumont-CAL Boys Can’t Complete Comeback

ALGONA—--- The Hampton-Dumont-CAL Bulldogs boys basketball team fell short in a comeback attempt in a 70-58 loss to the Algona Bulldogs on the road on Feb. 7. Hampton-Dumont-CAL is now 4-15 on the year.

The two teams traded baskets during the early parts of the first quarter as Hampton-Dumont-CAL led 7-6 early, Algona then took a 8-7 lead before Hampton-Dumont-CAL retook the lead at 9-8 with less than 5:00 left in the quarter. Algona took a 11-9 lead and then went on a 10-5 run to make it 21-14 with less than 2:00 left in the quarter. Hampton-Dumont-CAL trailed 23-16 after the first quarter and trailed 42-27 at halftime. 

Hampton-Dumont-CAL cut into the lead in the third quarter by outscoring Algona 16-15 in the third quarter to make it 57-43 at the end of the quarter. In the fourth quarter, Hampton-Dumont-CAL got the deficit down to 10 points at 66-56 with around 2:30 left in the game, but Algona did just enough to stay in front and end the game with the win.

Hampton-Dumont-CAL shot 55.8 % from the field as a team, including 4-for-9 from the three-point line. Hampton-Dumont-CAL also went 6-for-12 from the free-throw line. Brady Harr led the team with 21 points and had a double-double with 11 rebounds, Tramaine Horton scored 15 points, Aaden Keehn scored eight points, Caden Woods and Hunter Rieken both added six points each, and Jacob Donnenwerth scored two points.

Head coach Brian Niesen said that a positive for Hampton-Dumont-CAL is that the offense has become more balanced than earlier in the season.

“I thought our guards made some good plays,” Niesen said. “Brady Harr did his things and scored and rebounded. We played really good basketball at times. But we had a stretch in the second quarter where we didn’t guard up to our capabilities and they opened things up a little bit. But we played some good basketball at times.”

When it came to how the team cut into the deficit in the second half and made the game closer in the fourth quarter, Niesen said that the team used a box and one against Algona’s best player.

“When he got the ball I thought we had good help defense,” Niesen said. “We know how hard it is to guard him one-on-one so I thought our help defense was really good at times. We made their other options have to make shots and make plays against us and at times that helped stick around in the game.”

Niesen said that the team has to figure out what to do to play like they did in the fourth quarter for a whole game in the future.

“Taht is the million dollar question, how do you do it for 32 minutes,” Niesen said. “That is what we are trying to figure out. I feel like sometimes just knowing what works and going back to it. If something works do it again and again and keep going until they stop it.”

Hampton-Dumont-CAL’s next game is at home on Feb. 14. against Clear Lake at 7:45 p.m.