Vinton-Shellsburg has the few, the mighty, the Wamac West's top team

VINTON - You only need five. Or in Vinton-Shellsburg's case, nine.

That's the number of players on the Vikings varsity, believe it or not. Not that the lack of depth has mattered, since V-S is 15-3 and the Wamac Conference West Division champion.

“It's been a fun year,” said Vinton-Shellsburg Coach Joe Johnson. “We had a better year last year, after coming off a couple of down ones, but we lost all five starters. We knew we had a pretty good junior group.”

That group has led the way. Grant Sagan has team-best scoring (17.8) and rebounding (7.6) averages despite being a wing player forced to the post. Maxton Kearns is next at 10.8 and 6.7.

The other three junior starters are Max Griffith, Kelyn Rickels and Chris Merchant. Sophomore Nolan Sagan, Grant's brother, also plays, along with Jake Milroy, the only senior.

That's about it. Sophomores Chase Overton and Tanner Spies round out the roster.

“It's made for interesting practices,” said Johnson, in his sixth year as head coach. “We have to practice with the sophomores. They do as good a job as they can. We do a lot of three-on-three stuff.”

And a lot of winning.

In the lane

--- North Cedar won the Cedar Valley Conference championship with an amazing 52-47 overtime win Tuesday at West Branch. The Knights (17-4, 13-1) trailed by 14 points after three quarters, by 10 with 1:56 left in regulation and by five with 19 seconds left. North Cedar has finished league play. West Branch (12-2) beat Iowa City Regina (11-3), 60-58, Thursday night to end their regular seasons.

--- MFL/Mar-Mac (18-1 overall) has wrapped up the Upper Iowa Conference title. The Class 2A sixth-ranked Bulldogs host Valley Community Friday night in an effort to finish league play at a perfect 16-0.

--- Class 2A fifth-ranked Monticello lost its first game of the season Tuesday night to rival Cascade, 56-29. The Panthers won the Tri-Rivers Conference and are 19-1 overall going into their regular-season finale Friday night against Northeast Goose Lake.

--- Other conference winners include Lone Tree (Southeast Iowa Super Conference North Division), Keota (South Iowa Cedar League) and Vinton-Shellsburg (Wamac Conference West Division). Mount Vernon and Western Dubuque share the Wamac East title, as do Lisbon and Northeast Goose Lake in the Big East. Those four teams even split their games against each other for true ties.