Boys’ Prep Basketball: Porter, Swanson Lead New London to Easy Win
New London 85, English Valleys 43
New London outscored English Valleys 26-12 in the second quarter, opening up a 21-point lead at halftime, rolling to an 85-43 win over the Bears in a 1A District 10 quarterfinal.
Blaise Porter was electric from the game’s onset, scoring 11 first quarter points, surging to a game-high 25 points.
He also added five assists and five rebounds, while hitting 5-of-8 three point attempts.
Devon Swanson finished with 22 points and nine boards for New London, while Kade Benjamin added 10 points and seven rebounds.
Kaden Hall paced English Valleys with 18 points and seven boards.
New London, now 19-2, will play Thursday night at home against Iowa Valley, who took down Sigourney 45-42 last night.
That game will be begin at 7:00 p.m.
WACO 63, Keota 43
A balanced scoring attack paced by Colton Leichty led WACO to a 20-point, 63-43 win over Keota yesterday.
Leichty led the Warriors with 13 points, while Simeon Reichenbach had 11.
Keota tied the game in the second quarter, before WACO used a large third quarter run to open the margin up.
WACO is now 18-4.
The Warriors will move to the semifinals on Thursday when they face 18-4 Montezuma.
The Braves dispatched Pekin last night 63-46.
They’ll tip at 7:00 p.m. in Wayland Thursday night.
Winfield-Mount Union 53, Highland 33
It wasn’t pretty at times, but Winfield-Mount Union did enough to earn a 53-33 win over Highland yesterday.
The Wolves win was their 20th of the season — they now will play Hillcrest Academy in a Thursday night semifinal.
The Ravens bested Holy Trinity 61-36.
Cam Buffington had 22 points and seven rebounds to lead Winfield-Mount Union.
Abram Edwards finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds, while Jake Edwards chipped in with nine.
Danville 62, Lone Tree 42
Caiden Gourley had 18 points as Danville picked up a 62-42 win over Lone Tree yesterday.
The win moves Danville to the semifinals of District 9, where they’ll get Burlington Notre Dame.
Drake Johnson added 16 points, while Sawyer Nelson had 12.
Lone Tree closes their year 7-17.
Mediapolis 55, Van Buren County 34
Ben Egan finished 7-of-10 of the field for 19 points while Cole Lipper chipped in with 16 as Mediapolis rode their two stars to a 55-34 win over Van Buren County.
The loss for the Warriors closed their first season under Mount Pleasant alum Trey Magnani.
Jackson Manning had 10 points to lead Van Buren County.
Mediapolis, now 16-6, will play Mid-Prairie in a 2A-District 10 semifinal on Thursday night.
Tip is set for 7:00 p.m.
Girls’ Prep Basketball: Winfield-Mount Union Looking to Get Back to Region Semifinal
The Winfield-Mount Union girls’ basketball team is two games away from their ultimate goal.
They got off to a good start last week in a 32-point win over Hillcrest Academy and tonight, they’ll look to advance again when they host Holy Trinity a Class 1A Region 6 quarterfinal.
The Crusaders are fresh off a 74-47 first round win and enter 11-11 under head coach Tony Johnson.
Winfield-Mount Union will turn to their usual cast of characters tonight — usually a balanced approach — led by Bradie Buffington’s 15.1 points per game.
Keetyn Townsley adds just south of 10 points, while Jobey Malone is just north of nine.
Mary Kate Bendlage leads Holy Trinity with 14.6 points per game, she’s been steadily climbing the scoring ranks in her sophomore season.
Natalie Randolph adds 12.1 as the two double figure scorers for the Crusaders.
The winner of tonight’s game will get either Burlington Notre Dame or WACO in Friday’s regional semifinal.
Both games will tip at 7:00 p.m. tonight.
You can listen to Winfield-Mount Union – Holy Trinity on FM 105.5.
The KILJ Tournament Trail Pregame Show will start at 6:40 p.m.
Nathan Bloechl will have the call alongside Kent Bennett.
Other matchups tonight:
- Pella Christian at Mediapolis
- Louisa-Muscatine at Danville
- Van Buren County at Regina
- WACO at Notre Dame
- Mount Pleasant at Pella (boys’)
Men’s College Basketball: Wesleyan’s Brown Tabbed CAC Player of the Week
Iowa Wesleyan freshman Joey Brown has been named the Continental Athletic Conference Player of the Week, the league announced yesterday.
The guard averaged 27.3 points per game last week and was nearly unstoppable in a road conference game against Lincoln Christian University (Illinois) last Tuesday with a 36-point performance.
Brown followed that up with 20 points against St. Ambrose, before dropping 26 against Clarke on Sunday.
The Miami, Florida native shot 62% from the field across those three games while canning five three-pointers.
Iowa Wesleyan closed their regular season 11-18, they’ll host the CAC men’s basketball tournament, scheduled to be played February 25th-27th in Mount Pleasant.
Men’s College Basketball: Murray Named Big Ten POW:
University of Iowa men’s basketball sophomore Keegan Murray has been named both the Naismith Trophy Player of the Week Big Ten and Co-Player of the Week on Monday. Murray shares the Big Ten honor with Geo Baker of Rutgers.
The last Iowa men’s basketball player to earn a Naismith Trophy Player of the Week honor was Luka Garza a year ago on Feb. 22, 2021.
Murray has earned the Big Ten weekly honor a program-best four times this season.
The Cedar Rapids native helped propel the Hawkeyes to a pair of comfortable wins last week at Maryland and at home against Nebraska, averaging 33.5 points and nearly seven rebounds.
Iowa will host Michigan this Thursday at 6:00 p.m.
The Wolverines are 13-10.