Iowa high school boys’ state basketball tournament berths on the line in Class 3A

There are seven Iowa high school boys’ basketball substate final games Monday night in Class 3A, including separate games involving Cedar Rapids Xavier and Marion.

Class 3A substate finals

(All games 7 p.m.)

No. 4 CEDAR RAPIDS XAVIER (17-6) vs. DUBUQUE WAHLERT (13-10) at Manchester

These old Eastern Iowa parochial rivals know each other so well. They played a regular-season game in mid-January at Dubuque that Wahlert won, 57-52. All time, Wahlert owns a 19-14 matchup in the series, though Xavier is 6-2 in postseason games. Interestingly, the last four times they’ve met in the postseason, the winner won a state championship (Wahlert in 2014 and 2015, and Xavier in 2016 and 2017). Wahlert is led by its front line of center Duke Faley (12.7 points per game) and forwards Nolan Berendes (13.1 ppg) and Jack Walsh (10.3 ppg). Xavier counters with senior wing Aidan Yamilkoski (18.4 ppg), junior guard Joe Bean (14.5) and junior forward Josef Lemker (11.7 ppg).

No. 5 MARION (18-5) vs. CHARLES CITY (17-5) at Waterloo East

Marion seeks a second consecutive trip to the state tournament. Charles City hasn’t been to state since 1956. Marion survived Decorah, 71-68, in a substate final. Decorah and Charles City are members of the Northeast Iowa Conference. Charles City, meanwhile, survived Mount Vernon (a Wamac Conference member with Marion) in its substate semifinal, 64-61. Senior guard Brayson Laube (21.9 ppg) is Marion’s top player, the school’s all-time leading scorer. Senior forward Alex Mota averages 10.3 points per game. Charles City will throw undersized Marion some height. Six-foot-5 Chase Low leads the Comets in scoring (15.7 ppg), while 6-5 Kam Mestas is next at 15.1. Another 6-5 player, Keenan Wiley, averages 11.5 points and 7.8 rebounds per game.

STATE

No. 1 Bondurant-Farrar (22-0) vs. Harlan (17-5) at Creston

No. 2 Clear Lake (22-1) vs. No. 7 North Polk (18-5) at Ames

No. 3 MOC-Floyd Valley (21-2) vs. Algona (16-7) at Spencer

No. 8 Waverly-Shell Rock (17-5) vs. Des Moines Hoover (14-9) at Nevada

No. 10 Sioux City Heelan (17-6) vs. Webster City (18-3) at Fort Dodge