Iowa Mennonite and Manning early winners at boys’ tourney

The boys’ state basketball tournament is underway in Des Moines with the opening round in class 1A.Iowa Mennonite raced out to a 24-5 win after one quarter and went on to down Lynville-Sully 70-40. Iowa Mennonite coach Dwight Gingerich feels his team’s experience was a factor in their quick start. He says it helped them that they were there last year and that helped them to come in and play with confidence. Lynnville-Sully coach John Howard says the I-M-S pressure took them out of the game early. He says they had a tough time simulating I-M-S’s pressure in practice and it showed.Lynnville-Sully finishes the season with a record of 14-12, while Iowa Mennonite moves to 27-0.After finishing as the 1A runner-up last year Manning has earned a trip back to the 1A semifinals. The Bulldogs took command midway through the fourth quarter to down Rockwell City-Lytton 62-54. Manning center Brian Fogleman says last year they had the weight of coming in undefeated. He said they played without that this year. Fogleman made only two of 13 shots in the opening half. He bounced back to finish with 19 points and 14 rebounds. Manning coach Keith Wagner says Fogleman is used to the physical play and he had to just keep going and attack the basket. Rockwell City-Lytton led 46-45 midway through the fourth quarter but Manning went on a 7-0 run to take the lead for good. Brent Miller led Rockwell City-Lytton with 19 points as the Wildcats end their season 22-4.