Boys’ tourney moves to 1A quarterfinals

At the Boys’ State Basketball Tournament in the 1A quarterfinals, Matt Stauter scored 18 of his game high 25-points in the second half as top-ranked Newell-Fonda broke away from a two point halftime lead to down H-L-V of Victor 58-46. Stauter says they talked about putting them away in the second half after letting them get back in the ballgame. H-L-V coach Dennis Phelps says the Mustangs took over in the second half, and made it tough for them to score. Bellevue Marquette used a 9-0 fourth quarter run to hold off Fredricksburg 48-42. Fredricksburg held the ball most of the opening quarter and with the lead, though small, Marquette coach Jim Squires did not have the Mohawks come out and chase. He says he didn’t care if they won 4-0, they just wanted to advance. Fredricksburg coach Jim Stewart felt the Falcons needed to slow the tempo to stay in the game and get them frustrated into doing something they didn’t want to do. He says he felt good about controlling the tempo, even though he doesn’t like holding the ball, but felt he had to to give his team a chance. In the class 2A quarterfinals, 35-points for the state’s all-time leading scorer Brooks McKowen as top-seeded Wapsie Valley downed Williamsburg 76-64.Williamsburg ends an unlikely run to the state tournament with an 11-15 record after knocking off two-time defending champ Danville in the sub-state final.Williamsburg coach Paul Sondag said he wouldn’t have believed at the beginning of the year that they would make it to state, but he believes in them now.