Western Dubuque defeats Decorah to advance to boys’ state basketball tournament

WAVERLY — Western Dubuque advanced to the boys' state basketball tournament, defeating Decorah, 58-42 Monday night in a Class 3A substate final.

The Bobcats (18-4) used a balanced attack to grow their lead throughout as senior guard Garrett Baumhover led the way with 21 points. Dylan Johnson, Nick Bryant and Carson Schute joined Baumhover in double figures with 11, 11 and 10 respectively.

'Our ball movement (was great),' Baumhover said. 'Nobody is a selfish player on the court. We're all looking for each other to score. We just move the ball so well as a team.'

Decorah's Joseph Bockman did all he could to keep the Vikings' (17-7) season alive, scoring a game-high 22 points in the loss.

Leading 26-19 at halftime, Western Dubuque extended its lead to 13 in the third quarter as Bockman was the Vikings' only scorer in the first eight minutes after the break, pouring in 10 of his 22 points in the quarter.

'It was trying to limit (Bockman's) touches. Make sure we always had a hand in his face,' Western Dubuque coach Wayne Cusick said. 'You just have to make him work, because he's a good player. We got lucky we were able to shut down (Charles Robinson) a little bit.'

After the win Cusick said abandoning their full-court defense turned out to be a pivotal adjustment.

'I thought (the press) was giving them too many easy (baskets),' Cusick said. 'Turned it more into a grind-out kind of game. I thought once we kind of got some momentum going that we were able to kind of extend the lead.'

Western Dubuque will play next in the quarterfinal round of the Class 3A state tournament next Tuesday at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

'Just be the best version of ourselves we can be (at state),' Cusick said. Just go down there and play.'