Iowa high school boys' state basketball 2024 scores: Monday’s roundup

DES MOINES — This is not a 1A, 1B deal for Cam Buffington.

Basketball is nice and everything, but it’s not his favorite sport.

“Since I was little, I’ve always loved football,” the Winfield-Mount Union senior said after he helped the Wolves hoops team to a 54-37 win over Lynnville-Sully in a Class 1A state tournament quarterfinal Monday at Wells Fargo Arena. “But I’ve played a lot of basketball. Me and (teammate) Abram Edwards both played on a travel team. Every summer we were traveling. I’ve had a lot of success with my football ability and basketball just helping me, too. Basketball is second, it’s not real close. But I’ll play it.”

Buffington had a game-high 21 points and nine rebounds as fifth-ranked W-MU (21-2) rolled into a Wednesday afternoon 1A semifinal against No. 1 North Linn. The 6-foot-4 forward is a University of Iowa football signee as a linebacker.

Winfield-Mount Union lost in the 8-Player state semifinals this past fall.

“It sucked how football ended. Wish it was different,” Buffington said. “Can’t do anything about it. You go into basketball with the mentality of just get it back. Redemption. We’re on a mission.”

Guard Carter Loyd added 12 points for Winfield-Mount Union, making its first state trip since 1996. Head coach Klay Edwards was part of a five-year state run before going on to play college basketball at Iowa State.

He has three sons who play for the Wolves: center Abram and forwards Jake and Max. Winfield-Mount Union outscored Lynnville-Sully (24-2) in the fourth quarter by a 22-11 margin.

Corder Noun Harder led the seventh-ranked Hawks with 14 points.

“Our shots weren’t falling, but we kept playing defense. That ultimately won the game,” Buffington said.

Bellevue Marquette 45, Gladbrook-Reinbeck 36

The third-ranked and second-seeded Defenders outscored their opponent in the fourth quarter, 15-6, to move on to Wednesday night’s 1A semifinals.

Eli Scott led Marquette (26-1) with 14 points. He was 10 of 12 from the free-throw line.

The Defenders went 20 for 27 from the charity stripe to Gladbrook-Reinbeck’s 3 of 4. The Rebels (21-6) were led by Isaac Clark’s 12 points.

Drew Eilers had seven points and a game-high 15 rebounds. The teams each shot just 30 percent from the field.

Lake Mills 58, North Union 50

The rubber match went the way of the Bulldogs.

These Top of Iowa Conference teams split a pair of regular-season games, but Lance Helming’s 15 points and Aiden Stensrud’s 15 rebounds helped Lake Mills (25-1) move on to the Class 1A semifinals opposite Marquette.

The Bulldogs led the entire way, by as many as 15 in the fourth quarter. North Union (22-4) cut its deficit to as little as one, but Lake Mills recovered just in time.

Lake Mills outrebounded North Union by a 43-23 margin. Logan Bacon added 13 points, Stensrud 11 and Eli Menke 10 for the Bulldogs.

Aiden Lofstrom had 13 points and Preston Guerdet 11 for Norh Union, making its first state tournament appearance.

North Linn 75, Woodbine 59

Game story: North Linn takes care of Woodbine, heads to the state semifinals for the 8th straight year

Western Christian 56, Iowa City Regina 34

Game story: Iowa City Regina’s season ends in boys’ state basketball tournament, but a lot of hope for the future

Treynor 73, West Burlington 63

Alec Lovely scored 22 points and Jace Tams added 18 as No. 8 Treynor beat No. 6 West Burlington in a Class 2A quarterfinal.

The Cardinals (22-3) move on to play top-ranked Western Christian in a 2A semifinal Thursday. Treynor trailed by three points after three quarters but ended up outscoring West Burlington in the fourth, 23-10.

Mason Watkins had 22 points to lead West Burlington (22-1), which was at state for the first time.

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