North Fayette Valley finishes off perfect regular season

WEST UNION – Not ranked. Not even a top district seed.

But an outright conference championship. And an undefeated regular season.

For the first time.

Sometimes you’ve got to take the bad with the good, and the good far outweighed the bad Tuesday night for the North Fayette Valley boys’ basketball team, which got another huge game from Cael Reichter and a stellar defensive performance in beating MFL/Mar-Mac, 72-45.

Give the TigerHawks the Upper Iowa Conference title and a perfect 21-0 overall record. That’s something that has never happened for NFV, North Fayette or Valley CEW.

Those last two schools began whole-grade sharing in 2013.

“First time in school history, it just feels great to be the first team to do it,” said Reichter, the Upper Iowa University signee who scored 37 points and hauled in 24 rebounds. “To cap it off and beat the second team by 30 is just awesome.”

“It’s not like that was our goal,” said North Fayette Valley Coach Matt Krambeer. “We just wanted to see what happened game in and game out. But that’s a great accomplishment. I can’t say enough about how these guys come out every single night and just get after it. They are a fun group to coach.”

Only five teams remain undefeated in the state: Knoxville and Clear Lake in Class 3A, NFV and Grundy Center in 2A and Madrid in 1A. But NFV is the only one of those five not to be ranked by the Iowa High School Athletic Association or seeded first. The TigerHawks are a second seed in a district in which ninth-ranked Aplington-Parkersburg (18-2) is the first seed.

North Fayette Valley has played a primarily 1A schedule as a member of the UIC, which hurt it when it came to rankings and district seed. Still, these guys believe they aren’t getting the respect they deserve.

After the game, TigerHawks players gathered with their grandmothers at midcourt, with one of the grandmothers getting on the public-address system and comparing this team with the unheralded path of former Iowa Hawkeyes All-American and Philadelphia Eagles defensive back/Super Bowl champion Cooper DeJean.

“Overlooked and underestimated,” she said. “Go make history.”

North Fayette Valley has never qualified for the state tournament, losing in a 2A substate final last season to Hudson.

“I think it’s unfortunate, that’s what I’ll say about that,” Krambeer said. “I’m not here to be an expert, but I just think that we’ve been flying under the radar all year. I thought the last couple of weeks we had done enough things to bubble ourselves over the radar and get into that ranking. We can’t do anything else but play the schedule that is presented to us. We’ve won our games by (an average of) 20-something points. But by the same token, we’ve got to play these teams no matter what. It doesn’t matter how we get matched up, we’re going to have to do it. I think these guys have worked hard enough to get that single (district) number next to their name. But that’s just my opinion, and I guess I’ll leave it at that.”

Reichter said what they perceive as a slight has served and will continue to serve as motivation.

“Definitely,” he said. “Play the underdog. I love it, honestly. You want to be the best, you’ve got to beat the best, you know?”

The 6-foot-8 senior center is a versatile offensive player who uses his height around the basket, but who also can shoot the 3-pointer and dribble-drive to the lane. He had 26 of his 37 points in the second half, as NFV extended a 38-22 halftime lead.

He was the only TigerHawk to score in double figures, the only player on either team to score in double figures.

“Every team comes out and just goes balls to the wall (against you),” Reichter said. “So you’ve just got to wear them down and then take your opportunities when they come. If you try to find them (points) and force stuff, that’s not good. I let it come to me, and that’s how I try and find success, I guess.”

North Fayette Valley defensed it up, limiting MFL/Mar-Mac (18-4) to just 30-percent shooting from the field. NFV outrebounded the Bulldogs by a massive 50-19 margin.

“We try to hang our hat on defense,” Krambeer said. “That’s what we’ve talked about all year. There certainly are going to be nights where we don’t make shots, but we think the defense can travel. The defense can get us to where we want to be. In the second half, I thought we were patient offensively, and, by the same token, they are a tough team to guard. MFL has shooters everywhere, they’ve got ballhandlers, they’ve got the big guy inside. The score might not be representative. They played last night, and that might have factored, too. But I thought our defense was maybe the best we’ve played in a couple of years.”

------

AT WEST UNION

MFL/MAR-MAC (45): Eli Hanson 2-4 0-0 6, Landyn Miene 2-4 3-4 7, Parker Kuehl 2-10 5-7 9, Brock Hackett 2-10 0-0 6, Carter Lightfoot 3-10 2-4 9, Wesley Corlett 2-4 1-2 5, Jaron Wille 0-0 0-0 0, Carsten Pester 0-0 0-0 0, Austin Trappe 0-0 0-0 0, Tristan Bacon 0-1 0-0 0, Kynnick Corlett 1-1 1-1 3. Totals 14-34 12-18 45.

NORTH FAYETTE VALLEY (72): Decklyn Heins 2-4 2-4 6, Cael Reichter 13-22 7-12 37, Kyler White 2-6 0-0 4, Lincoln Aeschliman 3-9 0-0 9, Gavyn Grove 2-3 2-4 6, Jordan O’Kones 0-3 0-0 0, Cole Moser 2-6 0-0 6, Kyler Bertram 1-1 2-2 4, Brody Shaffer 0-1 0-0 0, Nick Hines 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 25-57 13-22 72.

Halftime – North Fayette Valley 38, MFL/Mar-Mac 22. 3-point goals – MFL/Mar-Mac 5-20 (Hanson 2-3, Miene 0-1, Kuehl 0-1, Hackett 2-8, Lightfoot 1-5, W. Corlett 0-2, Bacon 0-1), North Fayette Valley 9-25 (Reichter 4-5, White 0-3, Aeschliman 3-7, O’Kones 0-1, Moser 2-6, Schaffer 0-1, Hines 0-2). Rebounds – MFL/Mar-Mac 19 (Hanson, Miene, Lightfoot, Trappe 3), North Fayette Valley 50 (Reichter 24). Total fouls – MFL/Mar-Mac 12, North Fayette Valley 15. Fouled out – None. Turnovers – MFL/Mar-Mac 11, North Fayette Valley 9.

Comments: (319)-398-8258, jeff.johnson@thegazette.com