North Fayette Valley’s size advantages proved to be too much to handle, and the #9 (2A) Aplington-Parkersburg boys basketball team had its season close in Tuesday’s district final at Waterloo East, falling 66-52, as aired on 104.9 KLMJ.
The TigerHawks held the lead throughout the first half, and dominated with points in the paint. The Falcons trailed 30-25 at halftime, but started a comeback in the third quarter. Caleb Campbell and Tyler Wedeking connected on clutch three-pointers, and AP outscored their opponent 9-1 to begin the third quarter. But the inside presence of Decklyn Heins and Cael Reichter wore down the Falcon defense, and AP was unable to hit the needed shots to stay in contention.
“Points in the paint were tough, and then for us, unfortunately especially in the fourth quarter, we just didn’t hit the perimeter shots,” Head Coach Aaron Thomas says. “Credit to them to continue to pound it, and every time we tried to break the rhythm, get out of our defense or go zone, they seemed to hit one. We were just trying to break some momentum. It’s kind of a bad night to have a bad night, but proud of our guys. We talked in the locker room, I hope they don’t lose sight of the fact we won 20 games. I’m very confident going into this year, nobody envisioned that this crew would win 20. This group of seniors was selfless. They didn’t care about who was taking the shots or anything, and they were just great teammates throughout, so it was a special group. It’s hard to see these guys done tonight.”
Benny Waller led with 16 points, Campbell added 15 and Wedeking scored 10.
AP has closed its season at 20-3.
Aaron Thomas interview:
