-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Malcolm Clayton of Fort Dodge shoots over Johnston's Bo Sandquist on Friday

The Fort Dodge boys basketball team couldn’t shake off the rust of a week-long layoff and could never get on a track against Johnston here Friday night, dropping a 70-53 decision to the Dragons.

Tuesday’s ice storm forced the postponement of the Dodgers’ game at Southeast Polk. After that seven-day layoff the Dodgers were flat from the get-go, losing for the first time in Iowa Conference play.

“”We were not sharp, just flat,” said Dodger Coach Tom Daniel, whose team fell to 6-3 overall and 4-1 in the conference. “This is the first time our defense let us down this year. The key tonight is we can’t let this loss beat us twice. The guys were mad, but we didn’t deserve to win this game.”

The Dodgers won’t get much time to dwell on the loss thanks to a packed schedule ahead of them. Today, the Dodgers take on Dowling in West Des Moines. Then they travel to Sioux City North Tuesday before games Thursday and Friday against Southeast Polk and Urbandale.

“This is our first loss in the conference, but we have to pick up the pieces quickly,” said Daniel.

Three Dodgers reached double figures Friday night, led by junior Malcolm Clayton with 19 points. Solomon Clayton added 12 and Trey Mosley 11, including a trio of three-pointers. No one else had more than four points.

Grant Kramer led the Dragons (7-3) with 24 points. Dawson Jones added 13.

“We just forced the action and that happens when you are in scramble mode, which we were a lot tonight,” added Daniel. “We’ve faced adversity before, but not like we did tonight. And tonight we didn’t respond.”

Johnston jumped out to an 8-0 lead before the Dodgers got buckets from Solomon and Malcolm Clayton to make it 8-4 with 4:22 left in the first period. But the Dodgers would score just one more point in the frame and Johnston led 18-5.

Fort Dodge made just 2 of 12 shots over the first eight minutes.

The Dodgers put together a rally in the second quarter and snuck back to 24-19 on the back of seven straight from Malcolm Clayton.

A pivotal moment came after Malcolm Clayton finished his run with a three and a foul was called on Johnston on the shot. Solomon Clayton missed the front end of a one-and-one that could have pulled the Dodgers to 24-21.

Johnston then went an 8-2 run to push the lead to 32-21 and they led 36-25 at the break.

Fort Dodge shot just 12 free throws and made seven. The free throw line was definitely the difference as the Dragons made 18 of 22 foul shots.

The Dodgers scored just eight points in the third period and trailed 49-33. Johnston’s biggest lead was 22 points at 59-37 with 5:50 left in the game.

Johnston was efficient on offense, hitting 24 of 39 shots to go along with their torrid free throw shooting. Kramer was 7 of 8 from the floor and 9 of 12 from the line.

The Dodgers were 21 of 53 from the field for 39 percent. They were 4-for-11 from three-point range.

Today’s game at Dowling starts at 2:30. Tuesday’s trip to Sioux City is a boys’ only contest.

Johnston 70, Fort Dodge 53

Johnston – Jaden Kephart 2-4 2-2 7, Jeran Proctor 2-2 2-2 6, Camden Vander Zwagg 3-6 0-0 8, Dawson Jones 5-12 3-4 13, Grant Kramer 7-8 9-12 24, Peyton Williams 4-4 0-0 8, Jacob Meyer 1-1 2-2 4, Bo Sandquist 0-2 0-0 0, Blake Bergstrom 0-0 0-0 0, Nathan Buckallew 0-0 0-0 0, Grant Gossling 0-0 0-0 0, Nick Lucas 0-0 0-0 0, Mitch Hunerdosse 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-39 18-22 70.

Fort Dodge – Trey Mosley 3-7 2-3 11, Malcolm Clayton 9-19 0-0 19, Brady Read 1-3 0-0 2, Jordan Jackson 0-2 0-0 0, Solomon Clayton 4-13 4-7 12, Edker Foy 0-1 0-0 0, Joe Artis 1-2 1-2 3, Silas Naylor 2-4 0-0 0, Jonny Bowser 0-1 0-0 0, Damion Chavez 1-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-53 7-12 53.

Three-point shots: Johnston 4-11 (Kephart 1-3, Vander Zwagg 2-4, Jones 0-1, Kramer 1-1, Sandquist 0-2). Fort Dodge 4-11 (Mosley 3-4, Malcolm Clayton 1-5, Foy 0-1, Bowser 0-1).

Quarter scores: Johnston led 18-5, 36-25, 49-33.

Total fouls: Johnston 15, Fort Dodge 19.