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Dagger 3 with 1.6 seconds left ends Cedar Rapids Xavier’s boys’ basketball season
Blake Aalbers’ shot lifts MOC-Floyd Valley past the Saints, 44-41, in the Class 3A state tournament semifinals
Mar. 13, 2025 3:53 pm, Updated: Mar. 13, 2025 4:27 pm
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DES MOINES - As he headed out of the media room postgame Thursday afternoon, longtime MOC-Floyd Valley boys’ basketball head coach Loren DeJong came up to Cedar Rapids Xavier cohort Mike Freeman and tapped him on the shoulder, extending his hand.
Freeman was still conducting postgame interviews.
“It kills,” DeJong said in a conciliatory tone. “I’m sorry.”
This one did kill. Definitely.
Blake Aalbers hit a 3-pointer with 1.6 seconds left to give MOCFV a 44-41 win in a Class 3A state tournament semifinal at Wells Fargo Arena. There’s having your season end, then there’s having your season end like this.
“He hits that 3, I see it go through the hoop, and it was devastating,” Xavier’s Kaleb Wilgenbusch said.
Wilgenbusch and teammate Zander Murray brought Xavier (16-10) back in the final two minutes when it looked as if Xavier might be cooked. MOC-Floyd Valley (22-4) held a six-point lead in a game in which both teams found offense difficult to obtain.
Wilgenbusch hit a corner trey to bring his team within 40-38 with 1:08 left. Aalbers then made one of two free throws with 38.1 to go, with Murray nailing a contested 3 from the wing to stunningly tie things at 41 with 21.6 left.
MOC-Floyd Valley called timeout and gave Aalbers the ball. The senior guard dribbled out front near the time line for awhile, moved to his left as a teammate started to set a high screen and pulled.
Good, from about 24 feet. Xavier called out a timeout, threw the ball to Murray, but his shot from just past half court wasn’t close.
“Off the hands, I knew it was going in,” said Aalbers, who had a game-high 23 points and who came into this tournament shooting 45.5 percent from distance. “When I saw it go in, it was like ‘Oh, my goodness. We did it.’ It’s something you dream of. I can’t believe that happened.”
“We had two guys there,” Murray said. “I saw it go off the hand, and I thought it was short at first. But it was right there. A good player makes a good shot.”
MOCFV’s size and physicality inside (specifically 6-foot-5 Draeden Punt and 6-4 Owen Vander Pol) made life miserable for Xavier in this game. It essentially took away junior center A.J. Evans and forced other players to make shots when they were open, which didn’t occur much.
Evans had 21 points in Xavier’s quarterfinal win over Knoxville but was held scoreless here, taking only one shot. Murray led the Saints (who shot 32.6 percent from the field and didn’t score for four minutes and 35 seconds in the fourth quarter) with 19 points.
Wilgenbusch added 16. Aiden Miller and Lorenzo Pino had three points apiece, and that was it scoring wise.
“They are coached really well,” Freeman said. “They are really good defensively. They are big inside, and they kind of packed the paint on us. We had to make some shots ... We made some late to keep us in it.”
“They are a really good defensive team, especially the two big guys,” Wilgenbusch said. “I thrive going to the rim and trying to get layups, but knowing those two big guys are there makes it really hard. (Then) they pressure you, try to get into you, and it’s really hard to get a shot off.”
Xavier dropped a heartbreaker to Bondurant-Farrar in the 2023 3A title game, so this kind of felt like major deja vu. With Murray, Pino, Evans and some bench pieces coming back, it’s a distinct possibility you see the Saints back on the big stage here next season.
“I just couldn’t be prouder of everybody,” Freeman said. “Disappointing, obviously, a hard one to swallow. We’ve been down here twice (in three years), and it feels like it ended the same way. But I think it’s going to motivate the group that’s coming back.”
MOC-Floyd Valley, fourth ranked and third seeded plays No. 1 Clear Lake (26-0) in Friday afternoon’s championship game.
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AT DES MOINES
CEDAR RAPIDS XAVIER (41): Aiden Miller 1-4 0-0 3, A.J. Evans 0-1 0-0 0, Kaleb Wilgenbusch 6-14 3-3 16, Zander Murray 6-18 3-4 19, Lorenzo Pino 1-6 0-0 3, Carter Hoffmann 0-0 0-0 0, Jack Downey 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-43 6-7 41.
MOC-FLOYD VALLEY (44): Owen Vander Pol 1-2 3-4 5, Draeden Punt 2-6 2-2 6, Carter Van Gelder 2-6 2-2 7, Blake Aalbers 7-14 4-6 23, Ahman Langton 1-4 0-0 3, Henry Heller 0-1 0-0 0, Carter Brightwell 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 13-34 11-14 44.
Halftime - Xavier 19, MOC-Floyd Valley 18. 3-point goals - Xavier 7-23 (Murray 4-13, Miller 1-4, Pino 1-4, Wilgenbusch 1-2), MOC-Floyd Valley 7-18 (Aalbers 5-10, Langton 1-3, Van Gelder 1-4, Brightwell 0-1). Rebounds - Xavier 21 (Evans, Pino 4), MOC-Floyd Valley 29 (Vander Pol 11). Total fouls - Xavier 13, MOC-Floyd Valley 12. Fouled out - None. Assists - Xavier 7 (Miller 3), MOC-Floyd Valley 5 (Vander Pol 2). Turnovers - Xavier 11, MOC-Floyd Valley 17.
Comments: (319)-398-8258, jeff.johnson@thegazette.com
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