MADISON — Madison broke its huddle to start the third quarter shouting, “Move your feet.”
Coach Alan Brown was trying to get his players to cut down on their 15 fouls in the first half.
“We got a lot of fouls,” Caleb Hamilton said. “We do that a lot.”
The Bulldogs are obviously going through an adjustment period after their 11-1 football season that went into November. But just like football, the Madison basketball team dominated its opponent on Tuesday, initiating a Madison football-staple mercy rule on Flinthills in a 70-35 victory.
It hasn’t been as easy for the Bulldogs early in the season as it was for the football team. They dropped two of three over the weekend at the Lebo tournament, including an overtime loss to Hartford on Saturday.
Hartford played a zone defense and Flinthills also came out in a zone.
Brown wanted his team to move the ball more and get the ball into the middle of the zone. The Bulldogs had success inside early, but once the zone started collapsing, Hamilton took advantage.
The senior guard made three 3-pointers and scored 15 of his game-high 17 points in the first half.
“I always like seeing a zone because you don’t have to work near as hard on offense,” Hamiton said. “You just get to stand around and get an open shot, see the open man, pass him the ball.”
The Bulldogs kept things simple and it worked. They made 19-of-35 shots in the first half and had few empty possessions. Hamilton had two putbacks in the first quarter and the Bulldogs had four baskets and got to the free throw line once off misses in the second quarter.
Senior Wade Elwood benefited from the lack of box outs against the zone more than anyone, scoring 12 of his 15 points off offensive rebounds.
“We’ve got some inside guys that don’t have the height we usually have — 6-3 and 6-6 —but Wade’s strong inside and he gets position,” Brown said. “He and Garett Damron came off the bench and got some real nice boards for us. We’re really pleased the way Garett played and Wade coming off the bench scoring 16.”
The Bulldogs big men held the Mustangs to only one shot on most possessions, and they struggled from the field. Madison led 20-5 at the end of the first quarter, holding the Mustangs without a field goal until Garrett Breech made a 3-pointer just before the buzzer at the end of the first.
The Mustangs managed only one field goal in the second quarter and finished the first half two of 17 from the field.
Madison let off the gas in the second half, and Brown rested his starters for much of the third quarter and they only played the first minute of the fourth.
The Bulldogs improved to 2-2 with the win, and almost just as important, they had only five fouls in the second half.
“I think we improved coming out of the tournament this weekend,” Elwood said. “We knew what we needed to work on and we came out and I think we did that.”
Tuesday at Madison
Flinthills 5 6 14 10 — 35
Madison 20 23 17 10 — 70
Flint Hills — Veith 3, Hinnen 3, Breech 9, Stands 4, Oates 7, Cope 3, Sjogren 6.
Madison (2-2) — Luthi 6, Hamilton 17, Damron 6, Elwood 16, Schankie 7, Childers 13, Ott 3, Nowell 2.
Total fouls — Flint Hills 4, Madison 20. Fouled out — None.