Rock Valley knocks off Jesup in 2A state basketball quarterfinals

DES MOINES — One school had as many state tournament championships as the other did state tournament appearances.

So it wasn’t much of a surprise Tuesday afternoon that Rock Valley (the former) beat Jesup (the latter), 75-61, in a Class 2A quarterfinal at Wells Fargo.

“They’ve just got a really, really good team,” said Jesup’s Carson Lienau. “Their conference, you don’t really know exactly much about them because they only play each other up there. I wasn’t expecting them to be that good. They were the best team I’ve ever played against.”

Rock Valley is part of the always incredibly strong Siouxland Conference in Northwest Iowa, a league that produces state title candidates every year. It was awarded the second seed in this field, behind only Central Lyon.

That’s another Siouxland team. They split two games in the regular season, with Rock Valley knocking off Siouxland winner Boyden-Hull in a district final.

“We didn’t want to drop an egg after our substate win,” said Rock Valley’s Bryson Van Grootheest, who had a game-high 28 points. “We wanted to keep going, keep working, and that’s what we did.”

Rock Valley (21-5) built a 38-25 halftime lead, but Jesup (19-6) hung around, winning the third quarter by six and pulling within 52-45 going to the fourth. The Rockets gradually took total control the final eight minutes.

“They made a run, and I thought the kids held it together,” said Rock Valley Coach Wade Vander Maten.

Lienau capped a fine career with 18 points and 11 rebounds for Jesup, which regrouped after a 3-5 start to the season, winning 16 games in a row coming in here. That included an upset of Aplington-Parkersburg in a substate final.

“I told them last night that 80 other schools would be dying to play in this game,” said Jesup Coach Joe Smeins. “This was a heck of an accomplishment, and they should be very proud.”

Sam Remmerde added 22 points and 14 rebounds for Rock Valley, which plays Monticello in a 2A semifinal Thursday at 12:15 p.m.

AT DES MOINES

JESUP (61): Jack Miller 4-8 0-0 10, Parker McHone 1-4 0-2 2, Carter Even 3-6 1-1 7, Carson Lienau 7-13 4-4 18, Corbin Fuelling 5-11 4-4 16, Nolan Evans 1-1 0-0 3, Brevin Dahl 1-3 0-0 2, Brady Reyes 0-0 0-0 0, Brody Clark-Hurlbert 0-0 0-0 0, Merak Sly 0-0 0-0 0, Kamden Ochsner 1-2 0-0 3. Totals 23-48 9-11 61.

ROCK VALLEY (75): Caleb Kats 0-6 0-0 0, Bryson Van Grootheest 11-16 5-8 28, Dawson Van Beek 3-7 1-1 8, Landyn Van Kekerix 5-11 2-2 13, Sam Remmerde 10-15 1-2 22, Daniel Villalobos 0-1 0-0 0, Evan Janzen 0-0 0-0 0, Jackson Van Beek 0-0 0-0 0, Bryce Zomer 1-2 0-0 2, Parker Van Peursem 0-0 0-0 0, Lane Schmidt 1-1 0-0 2, Ryan Strait 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-58 9-13 75.

Halftime - Rock Valley 38, Jesup 25. 3-point goals - Jesup 6-10 (Miller 2-3, Lienau 0-1, Fuelling 2-3, Evans 1-1, Ochsner 1-1), Rock Valley 4-14 (Kats 0-2, Van Grootheest 1-3, D. Van Beek 1-4, Van Kekerix 1-2, Remmerde 1-3). Rebounds - Jesup 25 (Lienau 11), Rock Valley 31 (Remmerde 14). Total fouls - Jesup - 11, Rock Valley 12. Fouled out - None. Assists - Jesup 5 (Lienau 2), Rock Valley 15 (Van Kekerix 5). Turnovers - Jesup 16, Rock Valley 12.

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