Boys' state basketball: Thursday's games

DES MOINES — Thursday's games at the boys' state basketball tournament at Wells Fargo Arena:

Class 2A Semifinals

No. 4 CASCADE (21-3) vs. No. 8 PELLA CHRISTIAN (17-9)

* Time: 2 p.m.

* In the quarterfinals: Cascade led from start to finish in a 60-27 win over Osage. Pella Christian upset top-seeded Dike-New Hartford, 59-52.

* Coaches: Al Marshall will retire after his team's final game here Friday. He has a 737-326 career record in 47 seasons at Cascade and Cascade Aquin. Larry Hessing is 592-242 in 35 seasons, including 22 at Pella Christian.

* Top players: Cascade's offense works through senior center Devin Green. He scored 21 points in the Cougars' quarterfinal victory. Guard Jarrett Knepper added 11 points in that game. Cascade will go with six players in most games (Green, Knepper, Trace Hoffman, Kurt Trumm and Johnny Supple as starters, and Gannon O'Brien off the bench). Pella Christian upset top-seeded Dike-New Hartford in the quarterfinals, 59-52. Levi Jungling had 20 points in that game and that is his team-leading average. All nine of PC's losses have been to Class 3A and Class 4A teams.

No. 6 ANAMOSA (21-5) vs. No. 2 WESTERN CHRISTIAN (23-2)

* Time: 3:45 p.m.

* In the quarterfinals: Anamosa's first-ever state tournament game was a 74-60 quarterfinal win over Des Moines Christian. Western Christian beat Carroll Kuemper, 56-42.

* Coaches: Kevin Barnes is 213-217 in 20 seasons as a head coach, 18 at Anamosa. Jim Eekhoff is 679-143 in 34 seasons at Western and has won seven state championships. He will retire at season's end.

* Top players: Anamosa's 'Three Amigos' are guards Kyle Schepanski and Kolin Schulte, and forward Tyler Zumbach. They score the majority of their team's points and produced 18, 14 and 19 points, respectively, in Anamosa's quarterfinal win. Guard Kyle Sayre chipped in with 12 points in that game. As usual, Western Christian brings size to the table. Six-foot-seven center Josh Van Lingen is the Wolfpack's leading scorer and had 12 points and 14 rebounds in the quarterfinals. Forward Dustin Marra, 6-6, had 12 points and 11 boards in that game. Forward Jesse Jansma and guard Taylor Miedema also average double figures in scoring.

Class 3A Semifinals

No. 7 CEDAR RAPIDS XAVIER (17-8) vs. No. 2 PELLA (23-1)

* Time: 8:15 p.m.

* In the quarterfinals: Xavier knocked off second-seeded Spirit Lake, 58-47. Pella had no issues in disposing of Perry, 94-54.

* Coaches: Xavier's Ryan Luehrsmann is 43-29 in three seasons. Pella's Mark Core is in his 30th season as a head coach, his 21st at Pella. He has a career record of 465-212.

* Top players: Senior guard Mitchell Burger returned after a two-game suspension to score 25 points in Xavier's 58-47 quarterfinal win over Spirit Lake. He came into the tournament leading the Saints with a 16.6 scoring average. Forward Ryan Stulken scored 12 points against Spirit Lake for Xavier. Sophomore point guard Matt Mims came into the tourney averaging 12.5 points. Pella is a balanced team offensively that has good athletes, many of whom played for the Dutch's football team, which won 3A state titles in 2014 and 2015. Center Ryan Van Wyk (14.3 ppg) is the team's leading scorer and had 17 points against Perry. Donovan Holterhaus came off the bench in that game and popped in 21 points. These teams played in last year's quarterfinals, with Xavier winning.

CLASS 1A SEMIFINALS

* No. 8 Council Bluffs St. Albert (16-9) vs. No. 4 West Hancock (24-2), 10:30 a.m.

* No. 7 South O'Brien (23-3) vs. No. 3 Gladbrook-Reinbeck (24-2), 12:15 p.m.

OTHER CLASS 3A SEMIFINAL

* No. 1 Chariton (24-1) vs. No. 5 Dubuque Wahlert (20-5), 6:35 p.m.

l Comments: (319) 368-8857; jeff.johnson@thegazette.com