Williamsburg sweeps the Wamac Conference in boys’ basketball

MARION — The Wamac Conference? Meh, it wasn’t so tough this boys’ basketball season.

That’d be the Williamsburg Raiders talking here.

OK, not really. Williamsburg could say something cocky like that but won’t.

At any rate, anytime you roll through a traditionally strong league without suffering even the smallest dent, you’ve done well. Really well.

When you roll through a traditionally strong mostly Class 3A league undefeated and you are a 2A school, well, you’ve done great.

“It means a lot,” said Williamsburg sophomore star Derek Weisskopf, whose 20 points helped the 2A sixth-ranked Raiders past the 3A No. 6 Wolves, 79-69, Friday night. “Just a lot of work at practice, then getting through tough games, finishing. We struggled there from the free-throw line (tonight), but we got through it. We just find a way.”

“I knew we were hungry coming back after last year,” said Williamsburg forward Ethan Harman, who matched Weisskopf with 20 points. “We put in a lot of work in the offseason. We knew that was going to pay off because we have a great group of guys and we bonded real well together.”

Williamsburg was 10-11 last season and lost some starters to graduation. That normally doesn’t portend a 20-2 regular season, yet here are the Raiders.

They went 18-0 in the Wamac, beating the other six teams in the West Division twice each and the six teams in the East Division once. The losses came to a ranked 3A team from Fort Madison and to an unbeaten and second-ranked 2A team from Mid-Prairie.

They have won 11 in a row.

“Basically, it’s the dudes I’ve got, man,” said Williamsburg Coach Brad Knoop. “These guys are amazing. Everybody that asks me about our team, I tell them I don’t know if I’ve seen a group of guys, and that’s ninth-graders through seniors, that just love each other. Not just get along, (but) they truly do care about each other. And you can tell by the way they play. They share the ball, there is not one guy who has too big of an ego for this team.”

Williamsburg led by seven at halftime, 40-33, with East Division champ Marion (15-5) making numerous pushes in the second to get within one point. That was the spread after three quarters, 53-52, and down the stretch in the fourth, the last time at 65-64 with 3:40 left.

But Marion never got over the hump. Rather, Williamsburg never let the Wolves get over the hump.

A big and-one three-point play inside by Weisskopf extended the Raiders’ edge to 71-65 with 2:02 to go. That was the beginning of the end.

Brayson Laube had a game-high 29 points for Marion, which has lost two games in a row. The Wolves have one more regular-season game left early next week, then it’s the 3A postseason, where they are a top seed in their substate.

Williamsburg is the top seed in its 2A district and will open postseason play Thursday night at home against either Cascade or Iowa City Regina.

“Now we’re 0-0,” Knoop said. “We’ll go see Monday who we get to face, then prepare Tuesday and Wednesday like crazy and continue this fun ride.”

AT MARION

WILLIAMSBURG (79): Will DeSmet 3-4 4-6 10, Ethan Harman 8-9 3-3 20, Derek Weisskopf 8-17 3-5 20, Trey O’Neil 0-3 2-2 2, Jake Weber 1-4 5-6 7, Madox Doerhmann 2-4 5-6 7, Gavin Doehrmann 2-5 2-3 8, Landon Jepson 2-2 0-3 5, Clayten Steckly 0-2 1-2 1. Totals 26-50 22-32 79.

MARION (69): Myles Davis 3-5 2-2 10, Boede Rahe 1-5 2-2 4, Alex Mota 2-7 0-1 4, Nathan Whalen 1-7 0-0 2, Brayson Lauge 10-18 6-8 29, Payton Hodges 2-6 1-2 7, Jordan Fischer 3-3 0-0 9, Calen Claypool 1-2 0-2 2, Kaden Frommelt 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 24-56 11-17 69.

Halftime - Williamsburg 40, Marion 33. 3-point goals - Williamsburg 5-15 (Harman 1-1, Weisskopf 1-3, O’Neil 0-3, Weber 0-2, M. Doehrmann 2-3, Jepson 1-1, Steckly 0-1), Marion 10-26 (Davis 2-4, Mota 0-3, Whalen 0-4, Laube 3-8, Hodges 2-5, Fischer 3-3). Rebounds - Williamsburg 36 (Weisskopf 9), Marion 27 (Rahe 6). Total fouls - Williamsburg 19, Marion 23. Fouled out - None. Turnovers - Williamsburg 10, Marion 10.

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