Iowa’s Player of the Week (11)

Kayden Kruse (Ogden)

Ogden scored 107 points last Wednesday in a win over Woodward Academy, thanks in large part to Kruse’s 50 points. He’s one of just three guys to drop 50 in a game this season, Nick Reid and Parker Rochford are the others. Kruse followed up that big game with a more modest, but still impressive, 20 point game against Madrid.

Dylan Peeters (Assumption)

The Knights got three big wins last week over a trio of Class 4A teams; Peeters, a 6’7 senior forward got better as the week went on. Against Muscatine he scored nine points and came away with three blocks. He went for 29 points, nine rebounds and three blocks against Davenport North. His best game, was a 24 point, 10 rebound, 10 assist triple-double against Burlington, he added four blocks for good measure.

Gatdoar Bijiek (Des Moines North)

A 6’5 sharpshooter, this senior Polar Bear has pieced together a fine season. He was in especially fine form last week, as Des Moines North earned two more wins to close out the regular season. Against Fort Dodge, Bijiek scored 25 points and canned six 3s; he added four steals on the defensive end. In a huge regular season-finale win over Waukee, he scored 19 points, went 5-8 from deep and added four assists.

Kris Murray (Prairie)

The Murray twins have been dominant all season, and are certainly capable of getting to Hawks to the state tournament. Last week, they ended their regular season with two more wins, including a huge one over Iowa City West; Kris Murray was 9-14 from the floor in that game, and scored 26 points, adding three steals for good measure. In an earlier win last week, Kris scored 17 points on 7-11 shooting against Waterloo West, he added eight rebounds in that one.

Aguek Deng (Valley)

Another team that could make a deep rim into the postseason, Valley is known for its depth and balanced scoring attack. If there was ever a deviation from the constant balance of the Tigers, it was last week from 6’7 big-man Aguek Deng. The MVP of our Top 250 Expo in the fall, Deng is a guy we knew could hoop, and in two Valley wins last week he was great, averaging 14.5 points on 65 percent shooting and 10.5 rebounds per game against Johnson and Hoover.

Poll Closed (total votes, 17,419)

Kruse 9,473

Kris Murray 7,457

Bijiek 385

Deng 73

Peeters 31