With a trip to the state tournament in Des Moines on the line, the Emmetsburg E-Hawks let a late lead slip away in regulation, then couldn’t keep up in overtime of their Class 2A substate matchup with St. Edmond, Ft. Dodge, falling 55-51 in front of a standing-room only crowd. This marks the second consecutive season the E-Hawks have lost at substate. Senior Nick Weubker scored a game-high 23 points before fouling out in regulation. His teammate, Ryan Kliegl, would do the same, leaving the E-Hawks down two starters in overtime. Jake Jackson contributed 13 points off the bench. Emmetsburg’s season ends at 18-6. St. Edmond moves on to state, where they will play undefeated West Fork.
Western Christian is making a return trip to state in Class 2A after their 66-43 thumping of Sioux Center in a substate matchup. The Wolfpack will play Treynor in the quarterfinals. The rest of the bracket has undefeated PCM, Monroe playing Pella Christian, and Cascade, West Dubuque against North Cedar, Stanwood.
The Class 1A field has two teams from Northwest Iowa heading to Wells Fargo Arena. Boyden-Hull defeated Woodbury Central 70-67 to advance to state and will draw undefeated Danville. Storm Lake St. Mary’s knocked off Northeast Hamilton 50-44 at substate and will put their 24-1 record on the line against Exira/EH-K. The rest of the field has Iowa Mennonite taking on Guthrie Center and Northern University battling Lynnville-Sully.
The boys state basketball tournament begins Monday, March 7.
