STATE QUALIFICATIONS — Members of the North Union Warriors boys basketball team, left, during the Iowa State Class 1A quarterfinals against Lake Mills at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa, Monday, March 4 at 3:45 p.m. From: Assistant Coach Steve Ryan, Grady Madden, Aiden Lofstrom, Lane Brune, Cody Armiter, Dan Fothergill, Grayson Colegrove, Kyian Jones, Kayden Walders, Preston Gardette, Bryce Beshoner, Drew Henderson, head coach Alex Fisher and Cale Jones. (Photo by Greg Abel)
DES MOINES — The North Union Warriors boys basketball team enters the Iowa Class 1A state tournament as the No. 6 seed and will play the No. 3 Lake Mills Bulldogs at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines on Monday at 3:45 p.m. and play against familiar faces. Moin.
The road to the state championship is daunting, but here's an inside look at the rest of the tournament field.
The Class 1A tournament begins Monday at 10:30 a.m. with the top-seeded North Lynn Lynx (23-1) taking on the eighth-seeded Woodbine Tigers (23-2).
The Lynx come into this matchup as the favorites to win the tournament, boasting an impressive margin of victory of 41.9 points all season. The Lynx are averaging 79.1 points per game from him, but only 37.2 points per game from him.
The Lynx shoot well from all levels of the floor and have two 20-point scorers. Senior Ty Pfluhaupt is averaging 20.0 points on 63.7 percent from the field and 42 percent from 3-point range.
Pfluhaupt will be joined by junior Mason Betchen, who is averaging 20.5 points per game, shooting 51.5 percent from the field and 36.8 percent from behind.
As for the Tigers, they will need to rely on their great defense to pull off an upset.
The Tigers, who lack offensive ability, will rely on junior Carter Gruber to play in big games. The junior is averaging 20.6 points per game on 49.4 percent from the field and 35.5 percent from deep.
The Tigers are allowing 47.8 points per game and their overall scoring ability is not very efficient, so the matchup against the Lynx will be a difficult test.
The second game on Monday will pit fourth-seeded Winfield against Mount Martin. The Union Wolves (20-2) will play the fifth-seeded Linville-Surry Hawks (24-1) at 12:15 p.m.
Both teams enter the tournament with five straight wins. The Timberwolves and Hawks are in a close game with average scoring differences of 27 and 24.7 points, respectively.
The Timberwolves appear to be a bit top-heavy, with leading scorer Cam Buffington averaging 19.1 points per season. He, along with Abram Edwards, who averages 14.4 points per game, will be crucial if they aim to win a championship.
As for the Hawks, they have a more balanced offense, with just two players averaging over 10 points per game during the season. Seniors Mitchell Miller is averaging 12.8 points and Clayton Van Dyke is averaging 12.5 points.
In the third game of the day, second-seeded Marquette Catholic (25-1) will take on seventh-seeded Gladbrook-Rhinebeck Rebels (21-5) at 2 p.m.
Marquette Catholic will enter the game as a championship favorite, displaying a balanced offense that averaged 74.8 points per game during the season.
Junior Spencer Roeder is averaging 16.3 points per game on 51.4 percent from the field and 35 percent from beyond the arc.
Roeder will be joined by Eli Scott and Kaden Kettman, who are averaging 11.5 and 11.3 points, respectively. But Marquette Catholic isn't just better offensively, it's only allowing 43.8 points per night this year.
For the Rebels, junior Michael Boyd leads the way with 14.2 points per game and has a balanced attack. He is accompanied by Drew Eilers and Isaac Clark, who are averaging solid numbers of 12.5 and 11.7 points per game, respectively.
The Rebels defense is on par with Marquette Catholic's defense, with the Rebels being more efficient shooting from the floor but struggling a bit at the charity stripe. Both teams come into the game on five straight wins.
The final game of the afternoon will be between the third-seeded Lake Mills Bulldogs and the sixth-seeded North Union Warriors.
These teams have a history this season, with the Bulldogs narrowly winning 70-68 when they faced off on February 6th to claim the Top of Iowa Conference crown.
The Bulldogs ran a high-octane offense, averaging 77.3 points on the season, while the Warriors played a slower, more methodical game, averaging 65.8 points per game.
If the Warriors can successfully press and trap the Bulldogs, it will be a close game like the previous matchup.
Leading the way for the Bulldogs is senior Lance Helming, who is averaging 19.1 points per night on 53.2 percent from the field and 40.2 percent from deep.
Helming will be joined by Eli Menke and Aiden Stenrud, who are averaging 16.4 and 16 points, respectively.
As for the Warriors, they have four or five players on the team who can score in double figures.
The usual suspect for the Warriors is big man Cody Armiter, who comes into this matchup averaging 12 points per game. He will be joined by guard Preston Guerdet, who averages 11.5 points per game, and forward Aiden Lofstrom, who averages 11.3 points on 61.4 percent shooting from the floor.
With the state title on the line, Monday will be the first step in achieving season-long goals for all eight participating teams.
