The Aplington-Parkersburg and Grundy Center boys basketball teams will meet Tuesday for the 2A District 12 final at Dike-New Hartford High School.
At 17-5, the Falcons enter off a 69-59 win over Dike-New Hartford in Thursday’s district semifinal, where they pulled away late after numerous lead changes. While the Falcons were outshot by 10 percent, they used quality free throw shooting to help seal it. Head Coach Aaron Thomas describes what it’ll take against a Grundy Center team that was highly regarded by the IHSAA rankings committee throughout the season.
“It’ll take a heck of an effort, they’re a really good team,” Thomas says. “They beat us pretty good at home. It’ll be a great battle. It’ll be a great postseason atmosphere. We’re going to have to shore some things up, we’re going to have to fight and claw, and hopefully somehow we can find a way.”
Leading scorers Gavin Thomas and Benny Waller are coming off 29 and 22-point performances in Thursday’s win.
Grundy Center is 18-3, and advanced with a 93-53 win over Iowa Falls-Alden in Thursday’s district semifinal. The Spartans shot 74 percent and 58 percent from three-point range in an all-around dominant performance. Head Coach Brent Thoren says it’ll take a heightened defensive intensity against the Falcons.
“We’re going to have to have a collective effort in defending Thomas and Waller,” Thoren says. “But you can’t get too caught up in just them, because they’ll kick it out to someone else who’s very capable, or they can attack the basket as well. They’re a hard guard, and they’ve got a lot of guys around them that can make a lot of plays as well. The big three things are no extra possessions, really defending Thomas and Waller especially and not letting them have career nights, and those extra possessions are a really big thing for them. We have to win the 50/50 balls and limit possessions versus them.”
Jalen Kirkpatrick and Tiernan Vokes lead with 15.8 and 10.9 points per game for a team that has shot over 50 percent for the season.
It’ll be a rematch of an 82-67 Spartan win in Parkersburg in December.
The game will air on 99 The Wave with pregame coverage beginning at 6:40 p.m., followed by the tipoff at 7:00. The winner will advance to Saturday’s substate game against either South Central Calhoun or Kuemper Catholic.
