1A quarterfinals highlight first action at boys’ tourney

The Boys’ State Basketball Tournament opened this morning with the quarterfinal round in class 1A.Sentral of Fenton posted a couple of upsets in an unlikely run to the state tournament but it took only a few minutes to discover there would not be another one. Top ranked Newell-Fonda jumped out to a 28-7 lead at the end of one and the Mustangs rolled to an 86-40 win in the tournament opener. Newell-Fonda started quickly and made 12 of 22 shots in the opening halfmany of which came off 15 first half turnovers by Sentral. Newell-Fonda was the 1A runner-up last year and Senior Matt Stauter says that experience was a benefit at the start of the game. He says the emotions they had before the games last year took a toll on them, while this year they settled in early.Eric Bruhn led Sentral with 12-points and says the combination of talent and experience was a big factor early. He says they didn’t hit their shots early and that made a difference as they tried to get used to the auditorium. Bruhn says he had hoped for a better showing but was happy with their tournament run.Making their first appearance at the state tournament since 1933 Dunkerton brought a large fan following. They will come back later this week. Brian Brungard scored 24-points as the third ranked Raiders got by number five Iowa Mennonite 63-57. He says the “Crowd’s been waiting for this for a long time. ” He says they didn’t want to have to make them wait a long time to come back. Dunkerton had a size advantage but Brungard says they had trouble against the quickness of I-M-S. He says they’re the quickest team they’ve played this year. Iowa Mennonite was led by its only senior Luke Yoder. He had 18-points, and said he was proud of the effort put forth by his team.