Boys’ basketball substate roundup: North Linn playing its best at the right time

DIKE — Here’s the thing about this North Linn boys’ basketball team. Its playing better now than it has all season.

“I think we’re playing the game at a very high level right now,” Lynx Coach Mike Hilmer said Saturday night, after his top-ranked team beat West Fork, 74-59, in a Class 1A substate final. “They are understanding the game better. They’re even coming in, telling you stuff at a timeout, which they’ve never done ... This is a very quiet group. But they’ve gotten louder on the court, and they’re doing the things they need to do.

“Sometimes when coaches are hard on you when you’re winning, it doesn’t always go as well because they’re like ‘Well, we’re winning, Coach.’ But they’ve done a really good job.”

Scary stuff for the rest of 1A state tournament field. North Linn (23-1) plays unranked Woodbine (23-2) in a 10:30 a.m. quarterfinal Monday, March 4, at Des Moines’ Wells Fargo Arena.

This is the eighth consecutive trip to state for the Lynx. They have been in a championship game six straight years.

All five starters scored in double figures against West Fork, led by Ty Pflughaupt’s 22 points. North Linn’s defensive press simply wore out the Warhawks, as a 14-0 run in the third quarter put the game away.

“I was face guarding, and everybody seemed like their hands were on their knees then,” said North Linn’s Breckyn Betenbender. “I mean, mine were, too. I just know in the back of my head that this is how we practice all the time. I know they are a notch more tired than all of us, so you’ve got to just keep fighting through that tiredness because we know they are a little more tired than we are. It’s kind of our mindset.”

“That was our mantra today, wear them out,” Hilmer said. “I said I know that we’ll be tired, too, and we were. But we’re used to being tired, and they’re probably not.”

Lansing Kee lost its 1A substate final Saturday night to Gladbrook-Reinbeck, 52-49. The Hawks (22-3) trailed by seven at halftime but took a 42-41 lead to the fourth quarter.

An Austin Gehring 3-pointer with 3:20 to play put G-R (21-5) ahead for good. Kee was attempting to make it to state for the first time. Gladbrook-Reinbeck qualified for a second season in a row and for the fifth time since 2015.

Class 2A substate finals: Regina wins, NFV and Cascade come up short

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Michael Martin scored 20 points and Drew Streb added 16 as Iowa City Regina knocked off fifth-ranked Pella Christian, 64-59, in a Class 2A substate final at Iowa City Liberty.

The Regals (17-6) are the eighth seed at the state tournament and play top-ranked Western Christian (20-3) in a 5:30 p.m. quarterfinal Monday, March 4. This is Regina’s first state trip since 2019.

Streb’s contributions on the low block helped Regina score 25 second-quarter points en route to a 39-35 halftime lead. As in their tight district final win over Alburnett, the Regals made plays down the stretch, including a Martin trey with under three minutes left that created a six-point, two-score spread.

Quite a turnaround in Coach Paul Rundquist’s first season for a program that had losing seasons the previous three years.

Cascade falls to West Burlington

Playing a substate final in Iowa City wasn’t quite as kind for Cascade, which dropped a 56-51 game to West Burlington at City High. Cascade was ranked 10th, West Burlington sixth.

Mason Watkins had a game-high 31 points, scoring his team’s final 10 as West Burlington (22-0) qualified for state for the first time. The Falcons beat another River Valley Conference team, Cascade, in a district final.

Cascade ended its season 18-5. Tyler Smith led the Cougars with 16 points.

Hudson runs away from North Fayette Valley

In the second game at Dike-New Hartford High School, second-ranked Hudson overwhelmed North Fayette Valley, 70-33, to qualify for the state tournament for the first time since 1994. NFV was seeking its first state appearance.

Lyle Olsen had 17 points, Camden Davis 16, Culin Ugrin 14 and Tanner Michael 14 for the Pirates (23-2), who lost last season in a substate final and whose only losses this season have been to Class 3A No. 1 Decorah and 4A top-ranked Cedar Rapids Kennedy. Hudson used a 17-3 run in the third quarter to completely put away a game that was 28-16 at halftime.

“The first half, we kind of slowed it down, had the pace where we wanted it,” said NFV senior guard Andre Fuentes. “We were there. But they just got that one run early third quarter, and it just kind of got away from us. I’m proud of the guys. We fought hard. They’re a tough team.”

North Fayette Valley ended its season 21-4 and returns outstanding 6-foot-7 junior Cael Reichter, who had a triple-double (23 points, 23 rebounds, 10 blocked shots) in a district win over MFL MarMac. He had 12 points to lead his team here.

“We’re graduating some seniors that we’re really going to miss, but we bring some kids back, too,” North Fayette Valley Coach Matt Krambeer said. “This is a process. Hudson’s gone through the same thing. You’ve got to get there a few times to kind of experience it. Tonight I thought that was a big difference, too. They’ve been in a situation like this, and we hadn’t, yet. We’ve been in a district final before, but this is a different level of play. This is something we are going to reap the benefits of.”

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