Hawks fall to Bears in 1A district semis

MONTEZUMA — Most people were looking to a Lynnville-Sully and Montezuma match up for the Class 1A District 9 championship contest on Thursday. BGM’s Bears had different plans.

The Bears ousted Lynnville-Sully’s Hawks, 77-69, from district contention in a semifinal contest on Tuesday. The two South Iowa Cedar League teams met once earlier in the season with the Hawks winning.

“You have to give BGM credit. They really scramble hard defensively and made it hard for us to get good looks at the basket,” Lynnville-Sully head coach Nick Harthoorn said. “The guys competed real hard in the second half to try and get back into it. BGM did a good job of converting layups and free throws late to close out the game.”

BGM led 16-12 after one quarter and was up 37-25 by halftime. Lynnville-Sully had a 15-13 scoring edge in the third.

Down 50-40 going into the fourth quarter, the Hawks weren’t able to cut into the Bears’ lead. BGM was 22-of-27 at the free-throw line for the game.

Tyson Vander Linden led the Hawks with 18 points, five assists and three steals. Bray Noun Harder tossed in 13 points and dished out six assists.

Rylan James had 12 points and six rebounds. Gage Vander Leest scored eight points followed by Kinnick McFarland with seven and Blaize Kuhlmann with six.

Zane Fraker had three points and Cale Foster added two points. The Hawks were 8-of-12 at the line.

Noah Beck scored 29 points for BGM. Ulises Felix had 21 points. BGM advanced to play fourth-ranked Montezuma, which beat Baxter 70-51 on Tuesday.

Lynnville-Sully finished the season at 15-6.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com