Fulda Raider boys string together two close losses

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Fulda vs. HBC

Last Thursday, the Fulda boys traveled down to Hills to take on the HBC Patriots. A cold shooting night for the Raiders and a 30 point performance from HBC’s Preston Wilhelmi pushed the Patriots to 68-52 victory.

Matthias Kunerth and Dalton Slinger both led the Raiders with 12 points. Kunerth added 7 rebounds and 4 assists, while Slinger added 5 rebounds himself.

The game started with HBC looking to get Wilhelmi going. He was able to get around his Fulda defender and drive to the basket or able to get a good 3 point look off. With HBC taking a early 15-4 lead, the Raiders had to dig in and make a run for themselves. Slinger, Kunerth, and Payton Marquardt were able to hit consecutive threes to chip away. But HBC was able to push its lead back to 8, by finding an open man under the basket.

Fulda vs. St. James 

On Saturday, the Raiders made their way over St. James to take on the St. James Saints, who are coached by Fulda alum Alex Hein. The Raiders were able to find their shooting touch again but weren’t able to string together enough stops on the defensive end and ultimately fell 77-73.

Leighton Gehl and Dalton Slinger both scored 21 points, while Gehl added 9 assists and Slinger added 4 rebounds. Matthias Kunerth contributed 19 points and 15 rebounds.

The game started out very similar to the last couple for the Raiders. They had a cold shooting beginning and being able to contain their matchups off the dribble caused some problems. But the Raiders quickly snapped out of the shooting slump, as Slinger and Kunerth knocked down a combined 5 first half 3-pointers. Gehl had a lot of success pushing the ball in transition and attacking the basket for scores himself or finding his teammates. After being down double digits early to start the Raiders were able to claw back into the game and trail by 6 at halftime, as the Saints led 39-33.