The #9 (2A) Aplington-Parkersburg boys basketball team got out to a hot start and the result was never in question in Thursday’s 64-30 home win over Hampton-Dumont-CAL, as aired on 104.9 KLMJ.
AP shot well over 50 percent for most of the first half, and jumped out to a 22-5 lead after the first quarter. The teams played relatively even throughout the second quarter, but the Falcons surged in the third quarter to pull away. Tyler Wedeking made six three-pointers, including a stretch of three straight in the second half, and the Falcons put the running clock rule in effect while emptying out the bench.
“They’ve struggled a little bit, but we wanted to make sure we were intense,” Head Coach Aaron Thomas says. “And if we get to North Fayette Valley, they’ve got a big kid, so it’s good for us to play against Brady Harr, who just has really good instincts. And for us to have to battle on the glass and do those things and just to get a win as we finish the regular season before we get into the postseason. But really proud of our guys to get 19 wins. To be 19-2 is a heck of an accomplishment. And I think we just keep getting better. Our goal is to be our best as we get to postseason. And I think we’re near there. We didn’t shoot it as well tonight as we had been, but it probably didn’t help with us not practicing yesterday. So just a really good effort by the guys all the way around.”
Wedeking led with 19 points, Caleb Campbell added 16 and Benny Waller scored 14.
Hampton-Dumont-CAL coach Brian Niesen says a sloppy start was costly.
“AP’s got a really good team,” Niesen says. “We knew they were good and we’ve seen a lot of pressure defense. So that didn’t surprise us. But I was disappointed with how we started. We just had some turnovers earlier where we weren’t strong with the ball. Just kind of got it taken from us and that gave them some juice and gave them a nice lead. And I think it got to 15 to two or 17 and then we played okay. I thought until halftime, I thought we answered a little bit. But yeah, we weren’t, for whatever reason, we weren’t ready to go. I mean, we’ve seen pressure defense all season. So nothing new for us. But yeah, they’ve got a good team. They’ve got a lot of guys who can shoot it. You can tell they have a lot of guys who spend a lot of time on basketball. They’ve got some 12-month hoopers in their program, you can tell.”
Brady Harr led the Bulldogs with 15 points.
AP has closed its season at 19-2. They’ll return to action Thursday, February 20 by hosting either Waukon or New Hampton. Hampton-Dumont-CAL (4-17) will host #1 (3A) Clear Lake Friday to close the regular season.
Aaron Thomas interview:
Brian Niesen interview:
