Championship Friday is in the books for the 2023-2024 season and two upsets occurred in Des Moines.
Starting in Class 1A, #1 North Linn and #2 Marquette Catholic went point-for-point with the Defenders grabbing a one-point fourth quarter lead, but the Lynx were too tough and won 57-56.
Mason Bechen continued his impressive postseason run with 24 points in the championship game. Spencer Roeder had a great game for Marquette Catholic with 17 points and 14 rebounds. The Lynx have now won three state championships.
Winfield-Mt. Union’s Cam Buffington was named to the All-Tournament team with 33 points and 16 rebounds in his two games.
In Class 2A, the first half started off close between #1 Western Christian and #2 Hudson with the Wolfpack holding on to a slim 40 to 33 lead at halftime. Then the sails got ripped off in the third quarter as the Pirates were outscored 22 to 5, eventually losing 78-51.
Karsten Moret and Caleb Douma each cashed in for 23 points in the win as Douma nailed seven threes. Hudson’s Camden Davis was the main source of offense with 19 points in the effort.
For Class 3A, #4 Assumption and #2 Waverly-Shell Rock took a page out of the Class 1A championship game and battled for four quarters as the Knights outscored the Go-Hawks 20 to 10 in the second quarter and Navon Shabazz nailed a last second free throw to win 46-45 for another upset win for Assumption.
Shabazz was the leading scorer with 16 points as Kayvion Hodges collected a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Knights. Cole Marsh finished with 18 points and 14 rebounds for Waverly-Shell Rock.
#2 Valley successfully fended off #1 Cedar Rapids Kennedy’s fourth quarter comeback attempt to win the Class 4A championship 63-59. The Tigers were led by Trevin Jirak’s 19 points as Curtis Stinson added 18 points to the winning effort.
Trey McKowen was the leading scorer for Kennedy with 17 points as three other players also finished in double figures.
Class 1A All-Tournament Team
- Cam Buffington, Winfield-Mount Union
- Aiden Stensrud, Lake Mills
- Ty Plfughaupt, North Linn
- Spencer Roeder, Marquette Catholic
- Mason Bechen, North Linn (Captain)
Class 2A All-Tournament Team
- Tanner Michael, Hudson
- Karsten Moret, Western Christian
- Alec Lovely, Treynor
- Camden Davis, Hudson
- Kaden Van Regenmorter, Western Christian (Captain)
Class 3A All-Tournament Team
- Kayvion Hodges, Assumption
- Cole Marsh, Waverly-Shell Rock
- Jesse Van Kalsbeek, MOC-Floyd Valley
- Luke Frazell, Waverly-Shell Rock
- Damyen Jackson, Assumption (Captain)
Class 4A All-Tournament Team
- Kiki Deng, Valley
- Joseph Bean, Cedar Rapids, Kennedy
- Caden Wilkins, Bettendorf
- Cyrus Courtney, Cedar Rapids, Kennedy
- Curtis Stinson, Valley (Captain)