Class 3A Quarterfinal Preview: Pella vs. Sergeant Bluff-Luton

<p><strong>Class 3A State Quarterfinal Matchup:</strong> No. 3 Pella (19-5) vs. No. 6 Sergeant Bluff-Luton (14-10)</p> <p><strong>Date:</strong> Tuesday, March 10th</p> <p><strong>Time: </strong>4:30pm</p> <p><strong>Location: </strong>Wells Fargo Arena (Des Moines) </p> <p>On Friday morning, it was announced that Sergeant Bluff-Luton would receive the six-seed in the Class 3A State Tournament and face third-seed Pella in the quarterfinal round. While it was a bit surprising to see the Warriors not sitting at a seven or eight seed, it was even more intriguing that it would be matched up against the Dutch, who it upset as a six seed in the quarterfinal round back in 2017. </p> <p>After the upset victory over Pella three years ago, the then 16-9 Warriors went on to finish as the state runner-ups to Cedar Rapids Xavier. It’s almost deja vu for Adam Vander Schaaf’s bunch again, as they managed to get hot late in the season and play spoiler by coming out of a difficult substate region. Now SB-L will look to play the dark horse candidate again in Des Moines, as it looks to extend its current seven-game winning streak. </p> <p>"Obviously our record was the worst in the field, but I think what probably a lot of coaches looked at was our strength of schedule and how we were playing lately," said head coach Adam Vander Schaaf on the seeding process. "It’s the same three (vs.) six matchup, but obviously both teams are different and it’s a completely different cast of characters." </p> <p>SB-L has been led by its trio of big men this season in [player_tooltip player_id="801838" first="Daniel" last="Wright"], [player_tooltip player_id="796115" first="Jake" last="Layman"], and Majok Majouk. Wright, the 6-foot-8 quarterback recruit headed to Wisconsin, leads the Warriors with 14.8 points per game and 10 rebounds per game. While he plays the big man role and is strong on the boards, he also has the ability to beat teams from the outside. In the substate final against Le Mars, Wright went 3-for-3 from beyond the arc. Layman has also chipped in by averaging 11 PPG with Majouk recording a team-high 21 blocks.</p> <p>While there is a lot of focus on SB-L’s size, the guard play has improved drastically as the season has progressed for both senior point guard Deric Fitzgerald and junior Nick Muller. Both are playmakers that can score when they are needed. </p> <p>With the Warriors surging at the right time, they are going to have an uphill battle against a talented Pella squad that took down defending state champion Oskaloosa 62-51 in the substate final. The Dutch, which leads Class 3A in scoring with 77.5 PPG, is led by a solid group of scorers and has faced their fair share of tough opponents this season. </p> <p>"They (Pella) have the top offense in the state and they’ve got a lot of guys who can score. They play uptempo and it will probably be a little more of a different look than what we’ve seen this year," mentioned Vander Schaaf. " They’ve obviously seen a lot of good players throughout the year (with them) playing in a good conference. I’m sure they’ve seen big teams, fast teams, and a lot of different kinds of teams at this point in the year."</p> <p>5-foot-11 senior guard [player_tooltip player_id="801862" first="Logan" last="Shetterly"] is averaging a team-best 19.3 PPG and also leads the Dutch with 118 assists and 52 steals. On the other hand, senior Treyton Sturgeon has averaged 15 PPG and has accounted for 185 total rebounds and 27 blocks. Lastly, senior John Oltman has averaged double figures too with 12.8 PPG.  </p> <p>This is Pella’s first time back to the state tournament since it was upset by SB-L back in 2017. Not only will a Dutch team loaded with lots of depth be looking to win on Tuesday afternoon, but they have expectations of bringing home their first state championship since 2003. </p> <p>The winner of SB-L and Pella will face the winner of second-seeded Mount Vernon and seventh-seeded Clear Creek-Amana on Thursday at 3:45 pm. </p>