Clarion-Goldfield-Dows and Belmond-Klemme boys basketball will tip off the Class 2A District 2 postseason facing off against one another in Belmond on Monday. The Cowboys won the first meeting this season, 58-51 on January 20 in Belmond.
Clarion-Goldfield-Dows (8-14) won back to back games over Hampton-Dumont-CAL and Southeast Valley to conclude the regular season last week. The Cowboys have earned second chance scoring opportunities with 11 offensive rebounds per game. Chaz Lane leads the team with 18 points and 9.1 rebounds per game.
Cowboys Head Coach Jason Berning on continuing to play sharp basketball and learning from regular season lessons.
“This is probably the most fun part of the season. A lot of pressure to it, nobody wants their season to end, especially if you’re playing well at the end of the season. We feel like we’ve really turned the corner,” says Berning. “We’re hitting the postseason playing what we feel is our sharpest basketball of the year. We’re taking the lessons that we’ve learned in some of our close games, tough losses and put them to use as we go into the postseason. We will see where it brings us.”
Belmond-Klemme (11-11) lost three in a row to West Hancock, Northwood-Kensett and Forest City to conclude the regular season. The Broncos offense has continued to expand their capabilities against opponents this season behind the teamwork of 13.6 assists per game. Brody Heifner and Kysen Lamb are the Broncos one-two scoring punch with 15.6 points and 14 points per game respectively.
Broncos Head Coach Justin Meyer on applying down to the wire experience in postseason.
“We’re kind of battle tested in terms of playing close games. We know what it’s like. If I went back and counted, I bet 15 plus of our games have been in the fourth quarter, and have been within one possession, maybe two possessions. We haven’t necessarily won all of those. We’ve come out on both sides. We’ve won some, we’ve lost some,” says Meyer. “I think we’re battle tested that way. A lot of it’s getting to the practice floor, cleaning up some of those really, really simple things that we’re doing. Trying to just work on that, a lot of fundamentals.”
Action begins at 7:00 p.m. in Belmond.
