Prep Boys’ Basketball- The Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) has revealed the district matchups for both Classes 1A and 2A with postseason action getting underway on Friday, February 13th, with the preliminary round of action for Class 1A. Here’s a look at our local matchups.
Class 1A
Substate 5 District 9 will feature eight members of the Southeast Iowa Super Conference with #3 Burlington Notre Dame receiving the top seed in the bracket. The Nikes finished the regular season with a 20-2 record, which included a victory over a top 10 Marquette Catholic squad in Class 1A and 14 victories over teams that sport a record over 0.500.
They finished one game short of the state tournament last year after falling to North Linn, 56-52, in the substate championship. Notre Dame will be attempting to make their first trip to the state tournament since going in consecutive years in 2008 and 2009. They will take on the winner between…
(5-16) #8 New London vs (3-18) #9 Highland
The bracket will actually start in New London as the #8-seed Tigers will host #9 Highland on Friday at 7 pm. The two teams have not faced off against one another since the 2021-22 season when New London pulverized Highland 82-37.
It marked New London’s sixth win of the nine-game series going back to 2016. Only one of the matchups have been decided by less than 10 points, but it usually involves a lot of offense with at least one team scoring 64 points in the game.
To end the season, New London has won three of their last four games with back-to-back 70-point outings. Leading the pack will be London Franklin and Brigham Porter, as Franklin likes to slash his way through the lane, while Porter is pure from mid-range.
Highland, on the other hand, has lost 10 of their last 11 contests. Their season defense has been porous to say the least with 68.8 points allowed per game, which has jumped up to 70 points over the last 11 games. The Huskies will have their own pair to lean on in Bryce Hazelett (15.2 points per game) and Landon Roling (14 points per game).
KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm.
Players to Watch: Israel Lemley (New London) vs Jacob Schneider (Highland) from 3-point range
First Round Matchups Starting on Monday, February 16th, at 7 pm
(13-7) #4 Winfield-Mt. Union vs (12-9) #5 Danville
In another clash between the North and South Divisions, the Wolves will look to repeat history from their 2023-24 state tournament run when they knocked out Danville in a 61-40 final. It was Winfield-Mt. Union’s first victory over the Bears in their limited series going back to 2011.
Of course, Danville would like to rerun the 2021-22 season that saw the Bears qualify for the state tournament after Ty Carr’s 15 points led the team to a narrow 44-41 victory over the Wolves in the District Championship. With a history of success, neither team is to be taken lightly.
Danville has won five of their last six games after a 49-40 loss put them under 0.500 for the season. Their offense has picked up the pace, averaging 63.2 points over their last five wins compared to their season average 52.8 points per game.
Meanwhile, Winfield-Mt. Union has whispered their way to the end of the regular season after three dominant wins over SEISC-North opponents, losing their last two games by a combined seven points.
Their loss to Mediapolis in the SEISC Shootout brough their season record against South division to a miserable 0-4 with three of the four losses being by double figures. Head coach Klay Edwards prides his team on their defense, and they will have to be the focal point if they want to make a run.
The winner of this game will play the winner between Notre Dame and New London/Highland.
Players to Watch: Cody Milks (Winfield-Mt. Union) and Connor Hulett (Danville)
(14-7) #3 Holy Trinity Catholic vs (11-10) #6 WACO
This will be the second time this season that these two teams will meet on the hardcourt and Holy Trinity Catholic is hoping to make it six straight against WACO, as they hold the overall advantage since 2009 at 18-12.
After a close 54-53 victory in early February for the Crusaders back in the 2023-24 season, Holy Trinity Catholic has dominated this showdown, winning by an average of 23.3 points per game, including a 72-39 blowout in last year’s district semifinals.
Both of these teams lost some key pieces to last year’s squads. Holy Trinity Catholic lost their all-time point scorer in Luke Hellige and program leader in assists Adam Sobczak, while WACO had Christian Stacy, their leading scorer, transfer to Marion and graduated Isaac Rich and Clayton Miller.
Holy Trinity Catholic has been one of the bigger surprises of the season as they shook off a 4-5 start to the season to win 10 of their last 12. Layne Rung, who tabbed his 1,000th career point earlier this season, leads a dynamic offense averaging 59.2 points per game. Luckily for the Crusaders, they’re at home, where they are 10-3 for the season.
WACO’s head coach Chayse Roth thought his offense would take a while to progress. Nevertheless, his offense down the stretch has struggled, producing less than 50 points in 8 of their last 14 games, including three games of less than 40 points. WACO looks to build off their last victory of the season where they produced 61 points and drilled six threes on 37.5% shooting from beyond the arc.
KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm.
The winner will play either #2 Pekin or #7 Seymour.
Players to Watch: Layne Rung (HTC) and Holden Hughes (WACO)
Substate 5 District 10
(18-4) #2 Hillcrest Academy vs (5-16) #7 Wapello
As the odd-man out, Wapello will have to venture to Kalona to take on the SEISC-North champion, Hillcrest Academy to start their postseason journey. The past is not pointing in their favor as the Ravens have won the last nine games of the series with the last seven being by at least 13 points.
Hillcrest Academy is a sneakily good team with their four losses coming against: #3 Burlington Notre Dame, Keota, Class 2A’s #10 Pella Christian, and Pekin. All but two of their wins have come by double figures.
On the other hand, Wapello has lost their last four games of the season, and their wins come against teams with a combined record of 15-48. This will be a tough ask for the squad.
Players to Watch: Kale Bailey (Hillcrest Academy) and Kinnick Richenberger (Wapello)
The top seed of the district belongs to Calamus-Wheatland, who is 20-2 on the season with both losses coming against a ranked Marquette Catholic squad in Tri-Rivers play.
Class 2A Substate 5 District 9
(12-8) #3 West Burlington vs (4-18) #6 Cardinal
Not many would have blamed West Burlington if they dropped off of the map after losing four of their five starters, including All-State talent Mason Watkins, and the coach that helped lead them to consecutive district and conference championships along with their program’s first state tournament appearance.
Alas, the Falcons have learned to play scrappy this year, leading to a ferocious 51-50 overtime victory over Mt. Pleasant last night in a hostile environment. The remaining piece of their state tournament trip, Ayden Figuereo, plays quick and aggressive, while Silas Lotzow cleans up the boards and puts in the second chance buckets.
Cardinal is in the midst of their fifth straight losing season and their eighth losing season over the past ten years. All of their wins have come against Class 1A foes, and their defense has allowed two of their opponents to score over 100 points this year. Even worse, they are just 1-4 in games decided by two possessions.
The winner will move to play #2 Central Lee. The Hawks have put together consecutive winning seasons, the first time they have done that since at least 2006-07 to 2011-12. Central Lee split their matchups against West Burlington this year, winning 67-41 early in the season and losing 49-46 in late January.
Players to Watch: Ayden Figuereo (West Burlington) and Alijah Frase (Cardinal)
(7-13) #4 Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont vs (6-16) #5 Van Buren County
The Warriors will be making the long trip west to play the Rockets for their first-round matchup. Van Buren County has matched their win total from last season, but they have not supported a winning season going back to 2016-17.
Defensively, the Warriors are surrendering 68.4 points per game. Even in four of their six victories, Van Buren County allowed over 50 points.
Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont enters postseason play on a five-game losing streak, falling by at least 10 points in each of the contests. That was right off the heels of the Rockets rallying to five wins in six games. Defense, again, is the issue as the Rockets have allowed 61 points per game.
The winner will move on to play the top-seed of the district, Regina Catholic.
Players to Watch: Gavin Spaur (EBF) and Will Cocherell (VBC)
Substate 5 District 10
(14-6) #3 Mediapolis vs (3-18) #6 Louisa-Muscatine
Mediapolis has put together their best season in terms of winning percentage since 2018-19, when they finished the season 13-5. Helping them get there is their record against tough teams. The Bulldogs have gone 9-5 against teams with a winning record and held Burlington Notre Dame to one of their lowest scoring outputs of the season.
Louisa-Muscatine has found their offense as of late, posting scores of 64 or more in four of their last six games. The problem? They are 3-4 this season when scoring 60 points or more. They have also lost their last five games, allowing more than 70 points in all of them.
The winner will advance to the district semifinals and play #2 Mid-Prairie.
Players to Watch: Max Griffin (Mediapolis) and Oscar Cline (L-M)
#4 (7-15) Durant and #5 (9-12) Columbus
After losing seven games in-a-row, Columbus has ventured back into the winner’s column with consecutive victories over Cardinal and Louisa-Muscatine, scoring over 70 points in both contests. This exposition of offense was a nice change of pace after scoring less than 50 points in six of their last 7 losses.
If Columbus wants to come out on top, then they have to score over 60 points. The Wildcats are 9-1 when they accomplish this feat.
Durant is on their second four-game losing streak of the season after being blown out in their last three contests. The Wildcats have shown that they can hang with tough teams, losing by only five points to Mid-Prairie before winter break.
Where Durant might have the upper hand is the Wildcats have a tough defense, holding five of their seven opponents under 50 points in their victories.
So, it will be a battle of the team’s strengths.
The winner will travel to Northeast.
Players to Watch: Owen DeLong (Durant) and Ellis Hill-Carrier (Columbus)
Upcoming
The first round for Classes 1A and 2A will commence on Monday, February 16th, with the second-round set for Thursday, February 19th. The District championships are scheduled for Tuesday, February 24th, with the Substate Championships the following Saturday, February 28th. All games will tip-off at 7 pm.
The Class 3A and Class 4A brackets will be released on Monday.