Holy Smoldt! Joe Smoldt's huge 2nd half lifts Gladbrook-Reinbeck past Jesup

DES MOINES — It got to the point where you could clearly hear a member of the Jesup student section utter a curse word every time the basketball left his hand.

That's just how 'on' Joe Smoldt was in the second half Monday afternoon at Wells Fargo Arena. You and everyone else expected every single shot the all-state Gladbrook-Reinbeck guard took to go in.

They nearly did.

Smoldt finished with 35 points, 27 in the second half, as the defending-champion Rebels rallied past Jesup, 67-48, in a Class 1A state tournament quarterfinal. The assault came despite pretty good man-to-man defense against him most of the time.

'I've never played somebody that good before,' said Jesup's Tyler Lienau. 'He was on fire there in the third quarter. We didn't know what to do.'

'He's an outstanding player,' said Jesup Coach Joe Smeins. 'The thing we wanted to do with him was make him take tough shots. I thought we did that. He just hit them sometimes.'

The 6-foot junior came in averaging 25 points, so this wasn't a freak thing. Jesup (22-4) held him relatively in check most of the first half, but a 3-pointer just before the halftime buzzer really seemed to get him going.

He and his team simply took over in the third quarter, as G-R (24-2) scored the first 12 points to take a 33-25 lead. Back-to-back treys forced a Jesup timeout and a warning from an official after Smoldt, in a moment of extreme emotion, barked at the J-Hawks player defending him.

He finished 5 of 7 from distance in the game and made 12 of 13 free throws. In the second half, Smoldt was 6 of 10 from the field, 4 of 5 from beyond the arc.

'That third quarter was a big quarter,' said Smoldt. 'But that shot at the end of the first half was huge. I wasn't as aggressive in the first half as I wanted to be. The second half, I got it going, and my teammates found me. They knew I was hot.'

Jesup did just about everything right in the first half, claiming a 25-21 edge. Ethan Wyant was the best guard on the floor, as he had 12 of the J-Hawks' 25. But a shot taken too quickly at the end of the first half allowed Smoldt to take and make his big 3-pointer.

That turned out to be a significant five-point swing. Wyant finished with a team-high 18 points for Jesup, with Lienau adding 14 and Rodney Ciesielski 11.

The loss shouldn't dim what the J-Hawks accomplished this season. Center and second-leading returning scorer Kyle Schultz went down a season-ending knee injury 30 seconds into Jesup's opening game in November against Wapsie Valley.

This group regrouped and finished with the second-most wins in school history.

'We're not where we want to be tonight, but it was an unbelievable season,' Smeins said. 'Give Gladbrook-Reinbeck credit for making shots, and Smoldt for playing like a first-team all-state player.'

AT DES MOINES

JESUP (48): Drew Schmit 0-6 0-0 0, Ethan Wyant 8-15 2-3 18, Tyler Lienau 5-9 3-5 14, Kyle DeBerg 1-5 0-0 2, Rodney Ciesielski 5-8 1-1 11, Joey Youngblut 0-0 0-0 0, Alex McCombs 0-4 0-0 0, Alex Boleyn 0-1 0-0 0, Steffen Hoey 0-0 0-0 0, Tyler Brown 1-2 0-0 2, Hans Riensche 0-0 0-0 0, Garrett Richter 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-51 6-9 48.

GLADBROOK-REINBECK (67): Colton Dinsdale 0-3 0-0 0, Joe Smoldt 9-19 12-13 35, Josh Cooley 2-8 5-8 10, Matt Roeding 4-5 1-3 9, Tyler Pierce 0-1 2-5 2, Tyler Eiffler 4-5 1-2 11, Caden Kickbush 0-2 0-0 0, Walker Thede 0-0 0-0 0, Jake Schuman 0-0 0-0 0, Mason Skovgard 0-0 0-0 0, Jeremiah Kelley 0-0 0-0 0, Thomas Mussig 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 19-45 21-31 67.

Halftime — Jesup 25, Gladbrook-Reinbeck 21. 3-point goals — Jesup 2-19 (Schmit 0-5, Wyant 0-2, Lineau 1-3, DeBerg 1-3, McCombs 0-4, Boleyn 0-1, Richter 0-1), Gladbrook-Reinbeck 8-20 (Dinsdale 0-1, Smoldt 5-7, Cooley 1-6, Kickbush 0-2, Eiffler 2-3, Mussig 0-1). Rebounds — Jesup 27 (Wyant, Lineau 6), Gladbrook-Reinbeck 33 (Roeding, Pierce 7). Total fouls — Jesup 22, Gladbrook-Reinbeck 15. Fouled out — Ciesielski, Dinsdale. Turnovers — Jesup 11, Gladbrook-Reinbeck 8.

l Comments: (319) 398-8259; jeff.johnson@thegazette.com