Burlington, IA- In a rematch of last year’s District Championship, #4 Burlington Notre Dame was able to squash a late rally by Holy Trinity Catholic to advance to their second consecutive Substate Championship in a 64-51 final.
(From Burlington Notre Dame Athletics Facebook Page)
The battle of the Catholics has become a classic as of late with the two recently going against one another in important postseason matchups for both volleyball and basketball. This series has reclaimed its knack for a thriller that was present during the late 2000s and early 2010s, which saw eight of nine matchups decided by two possessions or less.
Although, much like the mid-2010s, the Nikes have generated some separation from the Crusaders, now racking up five straight victories over Holy Trinity Catholic. While last night’s final depicts a contest that was never close, Notre Dame watched their lead dwindle to just three with less than two minutes on the clock in the 4th quarter.
When talking about preparation that goes into playing a Southeast Iowa Super Conference South rival for the third time in a season, Nike head coach Dan Kies knew it would be a clash of competing identities trying to gain superiority,
“Yeah, I mean, gotta prepare just like we did both times we saw them. They played much better against us the first time we saw them. Their second time, they were a little flat to start out. But that’s a team that’s got guys that can play it. They play with discipline. They try to play their style of game. They’re gonna try and play a certain way. We’re gonna try and play a certain way. But both teams know each other, so yeah, gotta get ready and just see if we can’t take care of business. But it’s gonna be a tough matchup.”
In the first quarter at Father Minnett Gymnasium of the Class 1A Substate 5 District 9 Championship contest—at least for the first several minutes—neither team was backing down from the challenge. Holy Trinity Catholic’s defense opted to go with a zone look that collapsed in on the lane, hoping to minimize Shay Stephens, while the Nike defense looked for their man-to-man defense to lead to steals in transition.
Both offenses were ready for these looks. For the Crusaders, Layne Rung, who had averaged just 9.3 points against Notre Dame through his four years, took the challenge head-on, knocking down tough shots and notching 11 points in the first quarter.
On the other end of the floor, the Nikes played inside-out with quick drives leading to kickout three-pointers. Notre Dame hit five of them in the opening frame, including three from Griffin Kies as he went for 11 points of his own. Still, the extra help from beyond the arc gave Notre Dame the 23 to 15 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Despite the offensive output, the teams held on to their gameplans and neither team could buy a basket in the second quarter. Combining for just eight made field goals in the second quarter, the lead remained eight heading into the halftime break, 33 to 25.
The big surprise of the half was Stephens scoring just five points and for most of the first half struggled to get open against the defense of freshman Jack Ragar. For Crusader head coach John Hellige, the first half went exactly to plan defensively,
“Yeah, just really wanted to kind of try to slow him down as much as we could. Kind of limiting the transition and trying to control the defensive boards and limit our live ball turnovers is really what we tried to do tonight. For the most part, I thought the boys did a good job with the game plan.”
While the defense was doing their job, both teams struggled on offense in the third quarter. Rung continued his one-man show for the Crusaders with a pair of threes and a bucket inside the arc putting him at 24 points for the game and cutting the lead to seven, 45 to 38, to start the 4th quarter.
“Amazing player, amazing player, amazing young man” said Coach Hellige of his senior Rung. “He did everything this season we needed him to do. He’s kind of played behind a couple guys the last few years, and this year it was his turn to step into the spotlight, and boy did he ever. Had a great senior year, and just super proud of him.”
Mid-way through the 4th quarter, a Kellen Porter takeaway and transition basket for Stephens gave Notre Dame an eight-point lead, 54 to 46, causing coach Hellige to call a timeout. The Crusaders answered the call to action, much like coach Hellige did at the onset of the season.
The Holy Trinity Catholic seniors urged Hellige to stay on and coach the team and out of the break it was senior Corbin Van Niewaal that collected the in-bounds pass and plugged it in for the old-fashion three-point play. Lead down to five. A subsequent miss by the Nikes and a transition lay-up by Ragar cut the lead to three, 54-51 with two-and-a-half minutes to go.
After trading misses, Stephens took the ball himself and drove to low block and got one to go off the glass to move the lead back to two possessions and from there the Crusaders were unable to get a stop, while the Nikes went 5 for 6 from the free throw line in the quarter to escape with the 13-point win.
After starting the year 4-5, Holy Trinity Catholic had ventured their way back to their third consecutive District Championship. A standard that coach Hellige has come to expect from the program,
“Yeah, yeah, we did a really good job. For a team that really was counted out this year, they said we didn’t have a lot returning and we were able to finish 16-8 season, third straight district final appearance. So just proud of the seniors, their hard work. And my seniors year over year set the example for these younger guys, and this year was no exception.”
Despite all the odds, coach Hellige never lost faith in his squad,
“I mean, I always believe in my guys, and I felt like we had a chance to get back to the district final, or even a little further. I mean, we wouldn’t have showed up tonight if we didn’t think we could stand toe to toe with Notre Dame.”
For Burlington Notre Dame, the Nikes improve to 23-2 on the season with all of their losses coming against higher class teams. They now are set to return to the Substate Championship—a year after falling to North Linn, 56-52, in the same spot—to face off against Calamus-Wheatland as they look for their first trip to the state tournament since 2009.
Calamus-Wheatland also enters the game with a 23-2 record with both losses coming against #9 Marquette Catholic, a team Notre Dame beat 85-71 back in mid-January. The game is scheduled for Saturday, February 28th, at Iowa City High with tip-off at 4 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 3:45 pm.
Holy Trinity Catholic Scorers: Layne Rung 26 points, Jack Ragar 11 points, Corbin Van Niewaal 7 points, Graeme Meredith 3 points, Jay Ellison and Nathan Box 2 points.
Burlington Notre Dame Scorers: Griffin Kies 22 points, Shay Stephens 13 points, LJ Harris and Eli Oleson 8 points, Tatum Warner 7 points, Payne Prottsman and Garrison Reid 3 points.