Storm Lake St. Mary's just too much for Lisbon in 1st state tourney game

DES MOINES -- It's hard to believe, but Jake Hendricks really said it.

"I was nervous," the Lisbon center said. "I was actually more nervous today than I was in football."

Hendricks played in a state championship football game in November, and this was "just" a state basketball tournament quarterfinal at Wells Fargo Arena. Maybe it was a case of Hendricks knowing exactly the level of his team's opponent Monday afternoon.

"They're a pretty good team," Lisbon Coach Matt Haddy said of Storm Lake St. Mary's, after it ruined his school's state hoops debut with a 62-44 victory. "When you're that good, and you shoot the ball as well as they did today, you are going to be tough to beat."

St. Mary's is somehow ranked No. 2, even though it improved to 26-0 and has a legit shot at defending its 1A championship. The Panthers -- who get fellow Northwest Iowa power Boyden-Hull in Thursday's semifinals -- are tall and talented, especially 6-foot-6 forward Kennedy Drey and shooting guard Luke Lenhart.

The juniors were a gruesome twosome as far as Lisbon was concerned, combining for 46 points (Drey 25 and Lenhart 21). St. Mary's rolled to a 20-9 lead after a quarter and was up at halftime, 39-19, shooting 60 percent from the field.

play

Way too much for Lisbon (20-7).

"We just had some problems early," said Lisbon guard Ben Knake, who scored 17 points, three under his average. "I think most of it was jitters. The big stage and everything. Once we settled down, we were able to compose ourselves and do all right."

Knake was Lisbon's football quarterback, so, again, the jitters comment is kind of striking.

"We did some things that were uncharacteristic of what we've been doing to get to this point," said Haddy. "Some of the turnovers early, some of the defensive breakdowns ... But that's understandable. To get here for the first time in our school's history, to deal with that, I thought our kids played extremely hard. We just got beat by a better team today. That's what it comes down to."

Hendricks added 10 points for Lisbon, making all five of his attempts from the field. He and Knake are two of eight seniors that helped make hoops relevant at a school that tradionally has been all about wrestling in the winter.

"It was a lot of fun. We just didn't get as far as we wanted," Knake said. "I'd like to come back for a fifth year and do it again."

Here's a quick video interview with Knake and a copy of the game boxscore and play by:

Lisbon vs St Mary's, Storm Lake (03!05!12 at IA Boys State Tournament-Class1A Quarter)

[gallery columns="2"]