Western Christian too much for Anamosa in 2A state basketball semifinals

DES MOINES — Anamosa couldn't stop the storybook ending.

Not to say the Blue Raiders winning a state basketball championship wouldn't have been storybook. This is their first state tournament appearance, and the vast majority of the team has been playing together since third grade.

But after Western Christian's 69-48 semifinal victory Thursday afternoon at Wells Fargo Arena, Friday night's Class 2A title game features retiring head coaches who have done some amazing things. Western's Jim Eekhoff and Cascade's Al Marshall have combined for 1,418 wins in their 81 combined seasons.

They've been to the state tournament 26 times and have seven championships, all by Eekhoff. Doesn't get any more storybook than that.

'I honestly felt this team could get to this point this year, and anything less than getting to this point would have been a disappointment,' Eekhoff said. 'We just need to finish the deal. We know how difficult that is going to be against that zone defense. They have an excellent team. (Marshall) wrote the book on the 2-3 zone, and I don't think I wrote any books on how to beat the 2-3 zone. But we're going to try.'

As has been the pattern in Eekhoff's uber-successful tenure, Western Christian (24-2) has size, and that played a large role (pun intended) in Thursday's outcome. Six-foot-seven center Josh Van Lingen was unstoppable on the interior, scoring 23 points, pulling down 21 rebounds and being an intimidating presence in the middle of his team's 1-3-1 zone defense.

Anamosa's leading scorer Kolin Schulte scored a lot of points this season on penetration, but had just six here on 2-of-14 shooting.

'Yeah, I was frustrated because I wasn't getting my shots,' Schulte said. 'But that just left (other) guys open. I'd dribble in past my guy, and I'd just see this huge guy sitting in the middle. It was tough getting by him.'

It was tough for most of Anamosa's players, minus guard Kyle Schepanski, who had a team-high 17 points. The Blue Raiders shot just 32.2 percent from the field, including 4 of 23 from 3-point range.

'We knew we'd have a fight, obviously, against their size and athleticism,' said Anamosa Coach Kevin Barnes. 'I thought we had to shoot the ball well. It was a double-edged sword for us, because we had to shoot the ball to get into our pressure defense, which is what makes us who we are. Or what has made us who we are this year.'

Anamosa (21-6), which plays Pella Christian (17-10) in the 2A consolation game Friday morning at 11:45, was down only six at halftime, 28-22, but Western put the game away by outscoring the Blue Raiders in the third quarter, 18-9. Guards Ben Gesink and Taylor Miedema factored in large as well, scoring 17 and 10 points, respectively.

'They were a tough team, they were bigger than us, and they ran with us,' said Anamosa's Tyler Zumbach, limited to seven points, half of his average. 'We hadn't seen that all year. Personnel-wise, they were like (Wamac Conference opponent) West Delaware, but West Delaware slowed it down. Western Christian played our game, which we were hoping they would. We just couldn't make shots like we needed to.'

'I thought we got some good looks, but defensively they challenged us,' Barnes said. 'They had a good game plan, worked really hard to take our three scorers away. They played a little sagging with their bigs.'

AT DES MOINES

ANAMOSA (48): Tyler Zumbach 2-9 1-2 6, Austin Hunt 1-6 0-1 2, Kyle Sayre 1-5 0-0 2, Kolin Schulte 2-14 2-3 6, Kyle Schepanski 7-13 1-2 17, Ryan Krapl 1-3 0-0 3, Cole Sander 1-1 0-0 2, Cole Jamison 3-7 2-2 8, Gabe Finn 0-0 0-0 0, Dillon Meade 0-0 0-0 0, Zach Seehusen 0-0 0-0 0, Dylan Jones 0-0 0-0 0, Gabe Wolfe 0-0 0-0 0, Wyatt Heims 1-1 0-0 2, Elijah Pavin 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-59 6-10 48.

WESTERN CHRISTIAN (69): Jesse Jansma 4-10 0-0 9, Josh Van Lingen 9-11 5-9 23, Dustin Marra 2-5 1-4 5, Taylor Miedema 4-6 1-2 10, Ben Gesink 4-7 8-9 17, Joey Horstman 1-4 0-0 3, Justin Grevengoed 0-0 0-0 0, Colyn Oostenink 0-0 0-0 0, Ben Gransta 0-0 0-0 0, Alex DeWeerd 0-0 0-0 0, Drake Granstra 1-1 0-0 2, Caleb Harmsen 0-1 0-0 0, Layne Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Lucas DenHerder 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-49 15-24 69.

Halftime — Western Christian 28, Anamosa 22. 3-point goals — Anamosa 4-23 (Sayre 0-1, Schulte 0-7, Zumbach 1-3, Schepanski 2-5, Hunt 0-4, Krapf 1-1, Jamison 0-2), Western Christian 4-9 (Miedema 1-2, Gesink 1-1, Jansma 1-2, Horstman 1-3, Kooima 0-1). Rebounds — Anamosa 32 (Zumbach 7), Western Christian 41 (Van Lingen 21). Total fouls — Anamosa 22, Western Christian 13. Fouled out — None. Turnovers — Anamosa 8, Western Christian 11.

l Comments: (319) 398-8259; jeff.johnson@thegazette.com