Messenger photo by Britt Kudla: Fort Dodge's Brody Maehl drives against Waterloo East in the Dodger gym. For more photos, visit CU at messengernews.net

On most nights, these tell-tale statistics would write the story of a blowout loss.

No three-point baskets. Thirteen missed free throws. Twenty-six turnovers.

Yet the Fort Dodge boys continue to show signs of effort and heart, ultimately bowing out by a 57-45 final against Waterloo East on Friday in their last home game before Christmas break.

Willie Williams continues to feel extreme frustration about certain areas of the game from his Dodgers (1-4 overall). The fifth-year head coach isn’t disappointed in the energy his squad brings to the table, but rather, that they aren’t being rewarded for it because “we continue shoot ourselves in the foot.”

“It’s tough, because they’re getting after it and going hard,” Williams said. “But you’ve got to value the basketball. You have to treat it like it’s the most important thing there is on the court. You can’t be careless (in the execution). We’re just struggling to grasp (that concept) right now.

“We hung around. But you’re not going to beat anyone with 26 turnovers, or by only making 50 percent of your free throws. That’s all there is to it.”

Senior Quayshon Harrington-Johnson had 13 points off the bench for the balanced Trojans (1-3), who had dropped consecutive decisions to undefeated Cedar Falls, Des Moines Roosevelt and Waterloo West to start the season. Isaiah Thomas (11), Dejon Bynum (11) and Davieon VanArsdale (9) followed.

Sophomores Brody Maehl and Reggie Pederson shared game-high scoring honors with 15 points each for Fort Dodge. The 6-foot-6 Maehl had six straight points in a one-plus minute flurry to open the game and put the Dodgers up 6-0, but the Trojans settled in and answered with a 16-2 run to go ahead by eight points.

A basket by senior Taevon Feeley had FDSH back within 27-25 in the third quarter, and the Dodgers were down only one point midway through that period when East again surged forward with a 15-5 run to close the frame.

The Trojans then led by as many as 17 in the final period.

“If you think about how many possessions we gave up with careless mistakes and all the missed (foul shots), those are usually a recipe for disaster,” Williams said. “The kids hung in there. Kind of like the (seven-point Humboldt loss on Monday), we needed one more bucket to go ahead (in the third quarter) and just couldn’t get over the hump.

“We need to gain that confidence from seeing the shots go down. And we have to get more serious in practice about (developing) a routine on our free throws better so that it carries over to games.”

The Dodgers are at Mason City (1-4) on Tuesday and Marshalltown (4-1) on Friday.

WATERLOO EAST 57, FORT DODGE 45

Waterloo East — Isaiah Thomas 4-8 2-2 11, Dejon Bynum 4-11 1-2 11, Davieon VanArsdale 4-9 0-2 9, Jadyn Perkins 2-6 0-0 4, Gianni Gary 2-9 0-0 4, Quayshon Harringon-Johnson 4-5 5-6 13, Jeremy Waters-Wright 1-8 2-4 5, Makai Phillips 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 21-56 10-16 57.

Fort Dodge — Brody Maehl 6-13 3-7 15, Reggie Pederson 3-7 9-13 15, Taevon Feeley 2-5 1-4 5, Tytrell Mosley 2-4 0-0 4, Hayden Zuspann 0-6 0-0 0, Teddy Johnson 2-4 0-0 4, Gavin Davis 1-1 0-0 2, Tisyn Hook 0-1 0-0 0, Kyree Rochon 0-0 0-2 0, Karter Hemrick 0-2 0-0 0, Kauner Jensen 0-0 0-0 0, Carter Morris 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 16-43 13-26 45.

Quarter scores: East led 16-10, 22-17, 44-33. Three-point goals: East 5-16 (Bynum 2-6, Waters-Wright 1-6, Thomas 1-1, VanArsdale 1-2, Gary 0-1); Fort Dodge 0-10 (Zuspann 0-6, Hemrick 0-2, Mosley 0-1, Pederson 0-1). Turnovers: East 16, Fort Dodge 26. Total fouls: East 22, Fort Dodge 15. Fouled out: Harrington-Johnson.