Hawks claim 1A district championship

MARSHALLTOWN — It would have been difficult for Lynnville-Sully boys basketball coach Nick Harthoorn to prepare his team for Meskwaki Settlement School’s style of play on a normal time frame between games.

Having just one practice between the district semifinals and finals made things even tougher.

But the Hawks were once again up to the challenge Thursday during a 57-51 win over the Warriors at the Marshalltown High School Roundhouse.

Tenth-ranked Lynnville-Sully overcame another slow start to win its 19th straight game, but it wasn’t easy. The Hawks trailed by four after one and never led by more than eight in the Class 1A District 10 championship game.

“It’s real hard. It’s a short turnaround,” Harthoorn said of preparing for the Warriors. “You try to give them the big picture and give them some tendencies that they can expect. After that, it’s just a matter of going out and playing basketball. You can’t give them too much because you want them to be able to play the game and not get paralysis from analysis.

“Meskwaki did some nice things that hurt us, but the guys found a way to fight through it and get the win.”

The Warriors play at a frenetic pace, they apply full-court pressure even on misses and they have a rabid fan base that filled several seats in the newly renovated Roundhouse gym.

None of that prevented the Hawks (23-1) from reaching Saturday’s substate final against defending state champion and No. 6 Gladbrook-Reinbeck though. That game tips off at 7 p.m. at the McLeod Center in Cedar Falls.

“It’s awesome. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of guys to experience this with,” L-S senior Sage Ehresman said.

“We’ve played in some pretty cool places so far. I am excited for what’s next.”

Ehresman was the catalyst for the Hawks’ offense in the first half. Kyle Van Dyke, the team’s leading scorer at 13.1 points per game, wasn’t effective against the shorter Warriors in the first two quarters, but Ehresman made sure the Hawks didn’t fall too far behind.

Ehresman scored five of the Hawks’ first eight points to give them an early lead, and then his putback and two free throws late in the second quarter gave L-S a three-point advantage at halftime.

Ehresman scored 13 points, grabbed five rebounds and dished out five assists in the win. His aggressive drives to the bucket gave him several opportunities at the free-throw line where he was 6-of-8 in the game.

“I saw the big holes. We put an emphasis on attacking. I knew I was quick enough to get around the guy guarding me,” Ehresman said. “We did have complete trust in Kyle though. Even though he was missing shots, we still tried to get him the ball because we knew the shots would eventually go in.”

Jesse Van Wyk also provided the Hawks with an offensive punch in the first two quarters, scoring seven first-half points.

“The missed shots were all on me. I just have to make them,” Van Dyke said. “We were confused at first because our game plan wasn’t working. Jesse and Sage stepped up and hit big shots though.”

Van Dyke finished with a team-high 16 points and nine rebounds, but 14 of those points came in the second half and 10 were scored in the final eight minutes when the game was still in doubt.

“We really needed to do a better job of getting to the rim and attacking in the first half, and (Ehresman) was that guy,” Harthoorn said. “I was pleased with the second half. We had a few more guys willing to go to the rim, and then (Van Dyke) got going in the second half and finished the deal for us.”

The biggest swing of the game came in the final minute of the third quarter. With the game tied at 34-all, L-S took charge with six straight points to close out the quarter. The final four points came seconds a part as Rylan James scored inside and then created a turnover off full-court pressure.

The Meskwaki turnover ended up in the hands of Tyler Van Zante, who converted inside the lane as the horn sounded.

“That was certainly big. It gave us a little bit of momentum heading into the fourth quarter and gave us just a little bit of a gap that wouldn’t be erased with one shot,” Harthoorn said.

Meskwaki’s leading scorer, Allis Tahahwah, battled foul trouble the entire game. He picked up three fouls in the first quarter and missed the entire second quarter. Tahahwah was called for his fourth with around 2:40 to go in the third.

Two of the four fouls called against Tahahwah were charges. That was something Harthoorn thought his team could take advantage of, and it ended up paying off in a big way.

“One thing we did talk about was maybe taking a few charges against him, and we were able to do that,” Harthoorn said. “Those are big swings.”

Meskwaki coach Dina Keahna said her best player has to be smarter in this kind of game.

“We’ve done it before,” Keahna said in regards to playing without Tahahwah because of fouls. “He just needed to be smarter. I think most of his fouls were things he shouldn’t have been doing, and it made it difficult for his teammates to rally around.

“When he got his fourth foul, that dampened things. It dented our sails.”

Van Dyke’s best stretch of the game came early in the fourth quarter. His first bucket of the frame was a 3-point play that put the Hawks up six. He scored on the team’s next possession to push the lead to eight.

Meskwaki battled back to get within two on Jarius Bear’s 3-pointer, but Ehresman hit two free throws and Van Dyke scored again inside to put L-S up 53-47 with 1:52 to play.

The Warriors (19-5) never closer than five the rest of the way. L-S hit six free throws in the final 2:43 to seal it.

Van Wyk gave L-S three players in double-figures as he finished with 14. Van Wyk grabbed eight rebounds and handed out four assists, while Canyon Kuhlmann also had four assists. The Hawks hit 41 percent of their shots from the floor and won despite making only 14-of-25 from the line.

Meskwaki, which lost three of its last five games to end the season, was led by Tahahwah’s 15 points and seven rebounds. Tate Bear scored 14 and grabbed nine boards, and Jonas Bear had eight points and 10 rebounds. The Warriors shot just 27 percent from the floor though. They were 4-of-19 from 3-point range.

The only team that Lynnville-Sully plays that comes close to the style of play of the Warriors is South Iowa Cedar League rival Montezuma. The Braves are the only team to defeat the Hawks this year, and they advanced to the substate final Thursday with a win over fellow SICL foe Keota.

The Hawks had one day to prepare for Meskwaki. They’ll have Friday to prepare for the defending champion Rebels, too.

Gladbrook-Reinbeck (21-2) averages 70 points per game and has won 13 straight games after its 67-43 win over Grundy Center on Thursday. Junior guard Joe Smoldt is the fourth leading scorer in 1A, averging 25 points per game. No one else is scoring more than 8.1 points per game.

Meskwaki Settlement 14-5-15-17—51

Lynnville-Sully 10-12-18-17—57

Meskwaki (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Jo. Bear 4-0-5-8, Grant 1-4-2-6, T. Bear 3/2-6-2-14, Tahahwah 6/2-1-4-15, Keahna 0-0-1-0, Brown 1-0-3-2, Ja. Bear 1-4-3-6. TOTALS: 16/4-15-20-51.

L-S (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Kuhlmann 1/1-1-3-4, Van Wyk 5/1-3-4-14, Van Zante 2-0-1-4, Ehresman 3/1-6-1-13, Trettin 0-0-3-0, Van Dyke 6-4-4-16. TOTALS: 20/3-14-16-57.