Linn lost 82-42 to Russellville in their previous meeting at the Eugene tournament. On Saturday, the Wildcats avenged that loss with a 70-57 victory to earn consolation at the 61st annual Linn Holiday Tournament.

“It’s been awesome to watch them genuinely come together and play as a team and know that we all have faults, but together, we can do the dang thing,” said Coach Braden Ham. “It was nice to get a win against Russellville after the way we lost to them at Eugene.”

Linn held a 26-20 lead at the break, but the Indians surged in the third, winning the frame 19-15 before the Wildcats posted the highest-scoring quarter of the game with a 20-12 fourth.

Three players reached double figures, which Ham said has been a tremendous development recently.

“We’ve almost had four players in double figures every single game the last four games,” he said. “In one game, we were one point away from having five. It’s great to see everyone contributing in some way.”

Zach Dodson, who earned All-Tournament honors, went 5-6 from the line, where the team shot 18-27, as he scored 17 to lead the Wildcats. Noah Hall (trey, 6-7 FT), also earning All-Tournament, and Zach Hatfield (3-4 FT) each scored 15 as Ashton Keilholz hit a pair of three-pointers for his six points, and Austin Dudenhoeffer put in six, with two more by Seth Wolfe. Hall’s four assists paced the squad as Dodson dished it thrice, Keilholz and Hatfield twice apiece, and Dudenhoeffer once.

Keilholz was solid around the rim, grabbing 10 rebounds on the night, as Hall added nine, followed by Dodson (5), Wolfe and Dudenhoeffer (4 each), and Hatfield (2).

Linn had more blocks than steals, with Dodson counting two and Wolfe adding another. Dodson also had a steal to go with one by Keilholz and another by Hall.

In the consolation semis, Linn defeated Eldon 69-61, building on a 22-11 first-quarter lead.

Linn shot 9-18, Eldon hit 8-30 from the outside, and each hit 15 from two-point range. The Wildcats were better at the line, hitting 12-17 compared to 7-12 for Eldon.

Dodson went 8-9 at the stripe on his way to a team-high 20 points, as Keilholz was hot from three-point range (4-6) for 17 points, Hatfield added three treys and went 2-2 at the line for 13, and Wolfe scored 10 to round out double-figure scoring. Hall added six points on two three-pointers, and Dudenhoeffer finished with three.

In the assists column, Dodson and Wolfe shared the lead with three apiece, as Hall, Dudenhoeffer, and Keilholz added two each, and Hatfield posted one.

Hatfield and Dodson counted seven rebounds each, followed by Wolfe (4), Keilholz and Dudenhoeffer (3 each), and Hall (2).

Defensively, Hall, Wolfe, and Dodson had two steals apiece, and Hatfield recorded a pair of blocks to go with one by Wolfe.

Ham said the mentality changed among players after the loss to Hermann.

“They got after us, and I left the starters, the main guys, in the whole time because they have to get confidence,” he explained. “They’ve got to see the ball go in the basket; they got to have to get stops; they’ve got to move a little bit without the ball and pass on time, you know, playing together. That game was a blowout, but that’s when it flipped.”

At practice the next day, Ham said his players had a different mental toughness. “I don’t know what happened, and I don’t care because kids are the darnedest thing,” he said. “We had a good day of practice. We changed what we were doing offensively, and I own some stuff too.”

Against Owensville in the next game, Ham said the guys were serious. “When you look in a person’s eyes, whether it’s your job, sports, whatever, you know when someone is serious,” he added. “They were serious about what they were doing; they played hard, played well, and played together with a little more enthusiasm. It was a dogfight because Owensville is a tough team. The half-court shot helped.”

That game was right before the Wildcats lost 52-48 to Osage in the tournament’s opening round.

“I told the guys that turnovers were killing us,” he said. “I put numbers on the board, and they were eye-popping on offense and defense. I told them to fix the turnovers, and they went from 24 to 14 against Osage.”

Hall scored 20 points (4 treys, 6-7 FT) to lead the Wildcats, who trailed by just four at the break. After Linn won the third, 19-13, Osage flipped the script in the fourth, 15-9, to maintain the four-point edge for the win.

Dodson scored eight, hitting half his points at the line (4-5), as Keilholz hit two three-pointers for his six, Hatfield (trey) and Dudenhoeffer each scored five, and Wolfe finished with four.

Dodson and Wolfe co-led with three assists each, followed by Keilholz (2) and Hatfield, Dudenhoeffer, and Hall (1 apiece).

Dodson grabbed a team-high five rebounds, as Keilholz, Wolfe, Dudenhoeffer, and Hall snagged four apiece, and Hatfield finished with three.

Hall counted three steals, and Keilholz and Wolfe each had two, with the latter also posting a block. 

Ham is confident the change in mentality will lead to more success. “The skill level hasn’t changed,” he said. “They’ve always had the skills shooting and dribbling and stuff like that. What’s changed is their mentality. I’ve talked about this for a year and a half and done different things with leadership and player development, but it starts in the mind. If you feed your mind determination and success, it’s amazing. Everything starts to improve without even working on skills because their mind is where they’ve grown leaps and bounds. They will continue doing that because now they have a little taste of winning to go with that mentality.”

Ham also praised his assistant coach, Clint Finkemeier, who previously coached at Russellville.

“He has done an awesome job,” said Ham. “He’s been phenomenal in games and good with the younger kids, but he’s outstanding when a kid comes off the bench. He talks to him, and they respond to him well, and he’s like a free-throw guru. We’re shooting amazingly from the line, but I thank him for that because it’s like he is the free-throw whisperer.”