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Foul-trouble dooms Comets in 69-63 opening loss to Wolverines

Press photo by John Burbridge Charles City senior Cade Hemesath drives to the basket while drawing an intentional foul from Dike-New Hartford’s Isaac Jorgensen. Hemesath helped give the Comets an early lead, but drew his third foul early in the second quarter and his fourth foul early in the third and, thus, played limited minutes.
Press photo by John Burbridge
Charles City senior Cade Hemesath drives to the basket while drawing an intentional foul from Dike-New Hartford’s Isaac Jorgensen. Hemesath helped give the Comets an early lead, but drew his third foul early in the second quarter and his fourth foul early in the third and, thus, played limited minutes.

By John Burbridges sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — The play seemed to happen in slow-motion.

Comet senior Cade Hemesath, who helped the Comets jump out to an early lead in their season and home opener Tuesday night against Dike-New Hartford, got into a loose-ball scrum under his own basket with Wolverine counterpart Colton Harberts.

There was contact. There was a whistle. And there was a collective “Ugh” from the home crowd as Hemesath picked up his third foul with 6:20 remaining in the first half.

Hemesath was leading all scorers at the time with 7 points, and keeping the 6-foot-6 space-eating junior Harberts relatively in check.

Taking advantage of a wounded animal, the Wolverines pounced and began to feed Harberts inside with Hemesath on the bench while freeing up sharp-shooter Cade Fuller from the outside.

They helped give the Wolverines a 38-28 lead at the half, eventually leading to a 69-63 road victory.

Harberts had 19 points, Fuller scored 16 and Ryan Moore added 11 which included 4-of-4 free-throw shooting in the final 11 seconds of regulation to put the game away.

Hemesath returned in the second half and didn’t back down defensively as he recorded a pair of blocks while Comet fans held their breath.

But Harberts eventually drew a fourth foul on Hemesath with 5:50 left in the third, forcing Hemesath back to the bench.

Yet the Comets looked as if they were going to shoot their way out of foul trouble.

Junior guard Jackson Molstead, who scored 2 points in the first half, began to heat up while pouring in 15 of his game-high 23 points in the third quarter.

Molstead’s floater in the lane gave the Comets a 52-50 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Senior Noah Schlader also shot well for the Comets while scoring 13 points. Schlader also retrieved four offensive rebounds to keep numerous Charles City possessions alive.

Sophomore Marcus Cranshaw came off the bench and scored 9 points in the second half on a trio of 3-point field goals.

And Bradley Andrews, another Comet sophomore, was able to draw an offensive foul on a body-hunting Harberts underneath the Wolverines’ basket, which got the hometown fans fired up.

Dike-New Hartford managed to take a 65-60 lead before Molstead hit a 3-pointer with 15.3 seconds left in regulation.

Then after forcing a Wolverine 5-second turnover, the Comets had several shots down low at the basket, which would have tied the game, but couldn’t get one to fall before Moore retrieved a miss and was fouled to begin his series of decisive free throws.

The Comets will be back in action on Saturday when they travel to Algona with the CC girls team for a varsity doubleheader against the Bulldogs.

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