Wahlert overcomes slow start, wins Class 3A championship

DES MOINES – It probably was a moment of frustration as much as anything. His team, perhaps his son's team, had just lost. Sometimes fans/parents say misguided things.

'You won because of the referees!' a DeWitt Central fan shouted after a 67-57 loss to Dubuque Wahlert in Saturday night's Class 3A state basketball championship game.

Well, not really. Wahlert won because it had better players who played a superior second half.It wasn't nearly as dominating a performance as their first two games here, but the Golden Eagles (23-4) were clearly the class of the class. A lot of people out there would love to have seen how they'd have done in the Class 4A tournament.

'I'm not going to say that,' laughed Wahlert Coach Tom English, when told he should say Wahlert would have won it. 'I think we would have fared pretty well. Iowa City West is in the 4A championship game, who we defeated earlier in the season. We won our division in what I think is the toughest conference in the state. So I think we would have fared well in 4A.'

Wahlert didn't lose to a 3A team this season and beat 14 4A clubs. It has a 6-foot-7 sophomore in Cordell Pemsl who could be a high-Division I college player in a couple of years and who was way too much, especially in the second half, for gutty DeWitt Central (23-4).

The left-hander had 23 points and 10 rebounds, spurring a rally from a 32-28 halftime deficit with an array of interior hoops. His bucket with 1:49 left in the third quarter put Wahlert ahead for good, 44-42.

'We were playing bad defense, taking quick shots, weren't playing our game the way we did the first couple of games here,' Pemsl said.

Curiously, Pemsl was not named to the all-tournament team. Teammates Jared Walker and Josh Carter were, with Carter named the captain.

He had 14 points Saturday. Walker did a good job of slowing down Central's Kyle Bauer in the second half.

Bauer finished with 17 points. Central hit six treys in the first half, five in the first quarter en route to a 19-14 lead.

'We've been playing well,' English said. 'I think our guys may have gotten caught up in that a little bit. We didn't come out ready to play. We didn't execute early, didn't have the energy we should have had. We knew it was going to be a dogfight. DeWitt's a good team, and it's a championship game.'

Wahlert beat DeWitt Central in the regular season, 54-47. This is the Golden Eagles' fourth title, its first since 2008.

'They're a great team,' Bauer said. 'We played our hearts out, they played their hearts out. You've got to give them credit, they're a very good team. Not many teams could beat them.'

That includes in Class 4A.