STATE TOURNAMENT: Class 4A Recaps
CHAMPIONSHIP
No.1-Seed Iowa City West 65 vs. No. 3-Seed Cedar Falls 45
For the first time in the history of Cedar Falls High School, the Tigers’ boys basketball team will bring home some state championship hardware.
It was tight in the first quarter, but really, this one was no contest for AJ Green and his Cedar Falls Tigers.
The second quarter belonged to junior Logan Wolf, and his monster baseline slam exemplified what Cedar Falls was doing to the Trojans throughout the game; slicing and dicing. Cedar Falls built a lead of 13 in the second quarter, before a 7-0 West run to end the first half had them back within striking distance.
That striking distance became out of reach in the third quarter, though, after Cedar Falls — led by AJ Green’s 10 points — outscored the Trojans 20-7. The fourth quarter was a formality.
Any team that is down 19 points against AJ Green is almost certain not to make a comeback. Not even this ultra-talented West squad.
Green, a senior who’s headed to UNI next season, led all scorers with 24 and was unsurprisingly named 4A all-tourney captain. Junior Patrick McCaffery led West with 13 points. Look for both of these teams to be very good again next season.
MVP: AJ Green, 6’3 PG (Cedar Falls)
This state title only stresses the matter more, that AJ Green should be considered one of the greatest Iowa high school players of all time. He dominated in the third quarter, scoring 10 of his game-high 24, and that’s when Cedar falls buried West. Green will be a joy to watch for UNI fans the next three seasons.
Cedar Falls — 16 11 20 18 — 65
IC West — 12 9 7 17 — 45
Cedar Falls: Green 24, Wolf 14, Gerdes 12, Campbell 8, Frericks 2, Abbas 1, Gardner 1
IC West: McCaffery 13, Sims 12, Flitz 6, Odunsi 5, Klein 3, Eldridge 3, Anderson 3
SEMIFINALS
No. 1-Seed Iowa City West 58 No.4-Seed Waukee 50
For the sixth time in the last seven years, Iowa City West will play in the 4A title game.
Hakeem Odunsi was terrific and West used a big third quarter to separate themselves from a Waukee squad that played a marvelous first half.
The fourth quarter started with a 6-0 Warriors run, and the West lead was trimmed to just two. But Odunsi stopped the bleeding with a 12-foot jumper just outside the lane, and West would not be threatened from then on. Waukee would never get closer than four again.
The Warriors were led by junior Dylan Jones, he had 12 points and 11 rebounds. Junior point guard Noah Hart had 11 points and six assists. The Warriors could very well be back at state next season.
Iowa City West will play the winner of Valley and Cedar Falls tomorrow night at 8:15 p.m.
MVP: Hakeem Odunsi, 6’6 G/F (Iowa City West)
We didn’t even know if he was going to start before the game, well he did and he played exceedingly well throughout. He scored a game-high 18 points, and was a perfect 4-4 from deep. He also swiped three steals and came away with two pretty assists. When Odunsi plays like this, West is virtually unbeatable.
Waukee — 12 14 11 13 — 50
IC West — 11 12 22 13 — 58
Waukee: Jones 12, Hart 11, Johnson 11, Nelson 10, Rittman 6
IC West: Odunsi 18, McCaffery 14, Sims 14, Flitz 7, Eldridge 5
No. 3-Seed Cedar Falls 67 No. 7-Seed Valley 58
AJ Green came out and did AJ Green things, canning four first half 3s and leading his Tigers to an eight point halftime lead.
But the third quarter belonged to Valley, and it’s Australian guard Derek Emilifeonwu played some tremendous defense on Green in the second half. After scoring 19 points in the games first 17 minutes, Green was not a factor for much of the second half, until the final minute that is; more on that later.
Valley was firing on all cylinders in the third quarter, and led by as much as three on a couple occasions in the fourth quarter, but they cooled, and Cedar Falls regained control with about 6 minutes left in the game.
At the 3:18 mark, Cedar Falls junior Logan Wolf fluidly, athletically and aggressively drove the lane and converted a bendy and-one. It was a coming out for moment for Wolf — a star had been born. That put Cedar Falls up six, and AJ Green — an absurd 93 percent FT shooter — would make six free-throws in the final minute to put the game on ice.
MVP: AJ Green, 6’3 PG (Cedar Falls)
There were two stages of AJ Green in this one. The one who dominated the first 17 minutes, scoring 19 points and canning five 3s in that frame of time. And the one who was extremely clutch down the stretch, hitting all six of his free-throws in the final 30 seconds. Green is the best player left in this tourney, and it’ll be our pleasure to get to see him one last time tomorrow night.
Valley — 18 8 19 13 — 58
Cedar Falls — 20 14 10 23 — 67
Valley: Williams 13, Frey 11, Emilfeonwu 10, Bryan 9, Samples 7, Brinkmeyer 6, Sueppel 2
Cedar Falls: Green 25, Wolf 12, Gerdes 8, Campbell 8, Gardner 6, Abbas 4, Frericks 4
QUARTERFINALS
No. 1-Seed Iowa City West 62 No. 8-Seed Muscatine 50
It was interesting for awhile, and it was certainly a valiant effort by Iowa’s 4A all-time leading scorer, Joe Wieskamp, but in the end, Iowa City West just had too much talent.
Future Iowa Hawkeyes wing Joe Wieskamp notched a game-high 29 points in his last-ever game as a Muskie, and he outscored Iowa City West by himself in the third quarter, even bringing his squad to within one point heading into the fourth.
In the final quarter, it was another future Hawkeyes wing, Patrick McCaffery, who took control. He scored 12 of his team-high 17 in the fourth, including a monster two-hand flush to put the Trojans up eight early in the final frame.
Wieskamp was unbelievable, as good as advertised. He looked like a future NBA player. But West has too many weapons, it’ll move on to the semifinals, and play the winner of Johnston and Waukee Thursday night at 6:30.
MVP: Joe Wieskamp, 6’6 G/F (Muscatine)
He’s the full package, and at times, looked like superhero out there for the Muskies. His handles are sharp for a wing, and is athleticism is there, too. If he wasn’t on the Muskies, they might have lost by 40. So, by definition, he’s the most valuable player.
Muscatine — 8 11 18 13 — 50
IC West — 12 17 9 24 — 62
Muscatine: Wieskamp 29, Hahn 12, Melendez 5, Hutton 2, Foulk 2
IC West: McCaffery 17, Flitz 14, Eldridge 12, Odunsi 11, Sims 8
No. 4-Seed Waukee 60, No.5-Seed Johnston 58
For the first time in school history, Waukee finds itself in the win column at the state tournament.
The game was tight, 25-24 at the break, until the Warriors used a big third quarter to push the lead to seven. Johnston fought back, and then Waukee used another bigger push in the fourth — catalyzed by junior point guard Noah Hart — to extend its lead to as much as 11.
Johnston again fought back, and two Bo Sandquist 3s in the final minute, sandwiched in between some Waukee missed free-throws, gave Johnston a chance to at least send the game to overtime. But the comeback bid would fall a bit short (It was a Boston Grimes lay-in as time was expiring that cut the deficit from four to two. Johnston did not have any timeouts to stop the clock and Waukee did not have to inbound.)
Waukee moves on to face top-seeded Iowa City West in a Thursday night semifinal. Johnston ends its season 20-4.
MVP: Noah Hart, 6’3 PG (Waukee)
This honor could have also gone to Nathan Johnson, who had the best dunk of the tournament, by far, and a team high 18 points; or Dylan Jones, who double-doubled, and controlled the glass for Waukee. But Hart was instrumental in keeping his team composed and in control, his ability to handle the ball and probe the Johnston defense was a key to Waukee’s success. The junior, playing in his first-ever state tournament game, was definitely ready for the moment. He also set the tone by hitting a 3 right of the bat for the Warriors.
Johnston — 15 9 11 23 — 58
Waukee — 15 10 12 23 — 60
Johnston: Grimes 28, Sandquist 17, Williams 6, Vander Zwaag 3, Newcomb 2, Reid 2.
Waukee: Johnson 18, Hart 15, Jones 11, Rittman 11, Kelderman 3, Nelson 2.
No.2-Seed North Scott 44 No. 7-Seed Valley 52
Corvon Seales was impressive for North Scott, but Valley just has too much talent and too much depth. And what looked like it might be a game to come down to the wire, ended up being a relatively stress-free final two minutes for Valley.
Offensively, North Scott was getting things done early-on against Valley’s man-to-man D, but the Tigers switched to zone, and the Lancers struggled to score after that.
The Tigers are not your typical 7-seed. After a slow start to the season, they came into this game winners of 10 straight, including a 34-31 Substate final win over a 19-1 Hoover squad. They have two legit D1 prospects on their roster (Brinkmeyer, Williams) and more depth than most teams in the 4A field. Furthermore, they’re state tourney vets: experienced and battle-tested.
Valley will be a tough out for whoever they play on Thursday night in the semis. That being Cedar Falls or Sioux City East.
MVP: Blake Brinkmeyer, 6’8 PF (Valley)
A future Indiana State Sycamore, Brinkemeyer had nearly his full offensive arsenal on display today. He had an utterly impressive putback slam, and ended the game with a hoop-swating alley-oop. He was putting the ball on the dech and getting to the rim, too. Then there was the turnaround baby hook. The only thing we didn;t see was his mid-range J, but he can do that, too.
Valley — 10 8 14 20 — 52
North Scott — 15 3 12 14 — 44
Valley: Brinkmeyer 13, Bryan 13, Frey 10, Williams 8, Sueppel 4, Emelifeonwu 2, Samples 2
North Scott: Seales 17, Anderson 14, Kilburg 7, Sommers 3, Rollinger 2, Seales 1
No. 3-Seed Cedar Falls 75, No. 6-Seed Sioux City East 47
After a rocky start, AJ Green got red-hot in a hurry and the buried the Black Raiders in the first quarter with nine straight points on three triples. The first two were off the bounce; impressive enough, right? Well, the last one was a heat-check pull-up from 32-feet, splash.
At halftime, the Tigers led by 10, 31-21. And Sioux City East had a chance to make it a game out of the gates in the second half. But the opposite happened. Cedar Falls scored six straight to start the third quarter, pushing its lead to 16 in the process.
That lead would swell to as much as 30 in the fourth quarter, thanks in large part to junior wing Logan Wolf. Wolf was fantastic in the second half, and finished with 17 points, six rebounds and six assists.
Jack Peterson showed glimpses of how good he might be for Sioux City East. The junior guard led the Black Raiders with 11 points, and could become one of the better guards in Iowa next season.
Cedar Falls will play Valley in what promises to be a competitive 4A semifinal tomorrow night at 8:15.
MVP: AJ Green, 6’3 G (Cedar Falls)
He is the best player left in the entire state tourney, and he showed why in the first quarter when he reeled off nine straight points on three straight 3-balls, the last from 32-feet. He’s capable of taking over a game at any given time, and because he’s better than everyone else, it doesn’t matter who Cedar Falls is playing, Green can win it for them.
SC East — 20 11 16 10 — 75
Cedar Falls — 8 13 24 20 — 47
SC East: Peterson 11, Vanderloo 9, Rees 9, Hildahl 6, Armstrong 5, Keck 4, Siebersma 2, Taylor 1
Cedar Falls: Green 28, Wolf 17, Frericks 10, Campbell 8, Gerdes 7, Gardner 3, Loughren 2