No. 6 Van Meter separates in fourth, ends Mustangs’ season

NORWALK — Van Meter has allowed 60 points just one this season.

That defense was on display at Norwalk High School on Tuesday night during a Class 2A District 10 championship game.

The Bulldogs held Prairie City-Monroe senior Andrew Van Ryswyk to just five shots and kept the Mustangs under 50 points during a 51-44 victory.

“They have a 6-9 guy protecting the basket and they have athletes who can all move around. They are long and are a really good defensive team,” PCM coach Fred Lorensen said. “They only got called for one foul in the first half, too.”

PCM led 32-31 after three quarters, but the sixth-ranked Bulldogs separated themselves from the Mustangs with a big fourth quarter.

Senior Reed Worth scored 11 of his 19 points in the first half. He scored five points in the first quarter to put the Mustangs in front 11-9 after eight minutes.

Back-to-back treys by Worth pushed the advantage to 17-11 and then a Van Ryswyk triple broke a 17-all tie. The Bulldogs (20-2) scored a layup at the buzzer to take a 21-20 lead at halftime.

Van Ryswyk appeared to get fouled at the other end, but there was no call and the turnover led to points at the opposite side of the floor.

Van Meter led 30-22 after Spencer Lamb got to the bucket for a layup.

But PCM battled back to take a 32-31 lead after three quarters. The 10-1 run to end the quarter started with a pair of Van Ryswyk free throws. Worth then hit a jumper and the quarter ended following back-to-back 3-pointers by junior Jason Stafford and Worth.

Stafford finished with 10 points, three rebounds and four assists in the loss.

“They hit some big shots. We needed them to do that,” Lorensen said of Stafford and Worth.

Van Meter’s 6-foot-9 center Ryan Schmitt got going in the fourth. He put Van Meter ahead for good with a putback and then Potthoff scored again on a drive to the bucket.

“We let them dribble drive us a couple of times and we can’t do that,” Lorensen said. “Then we have to help and we leave the big guy open when we do that. He cleaned up the offensive boards in those situations.”

Stafford kept the game close with a pair of baskets, but Schmitt put the Bulldogs ahead 41-36 on a hoop inside the lane and another putback. Potthoff’s second layup of the quarter extended the lead to seven.

“We got beat baseline too many times. We can’t give up easy buckets,” Lorensen said.

Van Ryswyk made two free throws to cut into the deficit, but Schmitt scored two more times, including a dunk, between a 3-pointer by senior Isaac Telfer.

Van Ryswyk tallied 10 points and five boards for PCM (13-8). Van Meter’s defense limited him to just five shots though.

“If he goes inside, he had the big guy on him and we weren’t patient enough to get the ball to him,” Lorensen said.

Worth answered the Schmitt dunk with a trey, but the Bulldogs hit four free throws in the final 35 seconds to pull away.

“We battled,” Lorensen said. “I think we defended them well for the most part.”

The Bulldogs came into the game shooting 52 percent from the field. They made eight of their 10 attempts in the fourth.

PCM made 15 shots from the floor in the game, 10 coming from distance. Worth made five 3-pointers. Junior Derek Brown dished out four assists.

Schmitt scored 10 of his team-high 17 points in the fourth. Potthoff finished with 14 and Lamb added 12 for the Bulldogs, who will play Pella Christian in the substate final at Knoxville on Saturday.