Wolves basketball meet Lynnville-Sully in the state quarterfinals at KCII TODAY
Last time the Winfield-Mt. Union boys basketball won the state tournament, still a decade away from the birth of the program’s current roster. The Wolves look to take another step toward that ultimate dream today against Linville-Sully, and you can hear it on KCII.
The 20-2 Wolves tore through the Super Conference South to reach this point with postseason wins over New London, Danville, Burlington Notre Dame and Holy Trinity Catholic. WMU punched their ticket to Des Moines with a 46-41 win over the Crusaders. In a defensive battle, Cam Buffington worked for 18 points, while the Wolves got some big three pointers from Jake Edwards and Gabe Hemsworth. Winfield-Mt. Union has seen tremendous defense all season, allowing just 35 points and scoring 62 per game. With the seventh-best field goal percentage in 1A, the Wolves are knocking down nearly half of their shots from the floor plus 32 rebounds, a fifth-best 19 assists, 10 steals and five blocks per game.
The Wolves take on one of the hottest teams in 1A this afternoon in Linville-Sully. Riding an 18-game winning streak, the Hawks’ path to the playoffs saw them fly by Lamoni, Southeast Warren, Keota and Bedford. The Southern Iowa Cedar West champions are averaging 64 points and allowing 40 per game. Per night, the Hawks had 38 rebounds, 17 assists, 10 steals and three blocks. Individual leaders for Linville-Sully are Mitchell Miller with 12.8 points per game, Clayton Van Dyke with 7 rebounds a night and Corder Noun-Harder with 5 assists a night.
This is the 10th appearance in the state tournament for the Wolves, who are 15-10 overall. The Hawks, meanwhile, are making their 16th trip, compiling a 9-18 tournament record. Union and Linville-Sully are all KCII signals and streams. Pregame coverage begins today at 11:45 a.m. followed by the opening tip at 12:15 p.m. Live from Wells Fargo Arena.
The stage is set for Winfield-Mt. Union Boys Basketball.
After battling through the district and substate rounds of the playoffs, the Wolves are returning to the state tournament for the first time since 1996.
The No. 5-ranked Wolves’ first-round opponent is the No. 7-ranked Hawks of Linville-Sully .
WMU is the No. 4 seed in the 1A bracket, while Lynnville-Sully is the No. 5 seed.
Wolves have had a heck of a run so far. During the regular season, the Wolves suffered just two losses, one to Illini Bluff, 55-48, in the third game of the season without leading scorer Cam Buffington, and were once again limited to the Class 2A state tournament. 6 West Burlington 45-38.
Besides the pair of losses, the Wolves had a dominant run. The eight points and 15 points were the Wolves’ closest games all regular season.
After floundering through the first two rounds of district play, WMU went down to the wire in back-to-back games to advance to state.
In the district semifinals, WMU came back from 14 points behind Burlington Notre Dame in the third quarter. A pair of free throws late put the Wolves on top 51-49.
Leading the Wolves in the scoring department is senior forward Cam Buffington. Buffington averaged 19.1 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game. Buffington also has a 54.8% field goal percentage.
He can also dish the rock, averaging 3.5 assists. From the field, Edwards is shooting an efficient 63.3% from the field.
The only senior in the starting five is junior Jake Edwards. Edwards who stands at 6’4” is the perfect combo guard. He averaged 10.7 points and a team leading 4.0 assists. Edwards is the team leading three point shooter with a 39.5% clip. He averaged a team leading 2.5 steals a game.
Senior guard Carter Lloyd averaged 8.6 points. As an athletic two guard, Lloyd does something for the Wolves, dishing out 3.0 assists a game and grabbing 2.2 rebounds. Lloyd is one of WMU’s top on ball defenders around the perimeter, but can also take on big guards.
Hemsworth averaged 5.1 points and 3.0 assists a game. Hemsworth is one of the Wolves’ top three point shooters, shooting 33.3% from deep. While it may not show on the stat sheet, Hemsworth is a top on-ball defender who is often the opponent’s top ballhandler.
Off the bench, senior Cole Milks is the only other player averaging more than four points at 4.2. He also pulled down 3.0 rebounds a night.
Kyle Johnson , Grant Anderson , Max Edwards , Nicholas Sparrow and Eli Miller all came off the bench.
That loss came against No. 6 Keota 59-56. The Hawks’ next closest game in the regular season was a two-point win over North Mahaska in December.
The Hawks haven’t had a single-digit win streak through their postseason run. Lynnville-Sully’s closest game came in the second round of the playoffs, a 13-point win over Southeast Warren.
For a state tournament berth, the Hawks beat Bedford 64-50.
The Hawks only had two scorers in double figures. Senior Mitchell Miller is averaging 12.8 points and Clayton Van Dyke is scoring 12.5 points a game.
Van Dyke is the Hawks’ leading rebounder averaging 6.9 boards a game. He is also posting a field goal percentage of 66.2%
Sophomore Dawson James is averaging 9.4 points a contest with 6.8 rebounds and 57.3% while senior Corder is scoring 8.9 points with 4.8 assists and 2.5 rebounds.
Junior Carson Maston and senior Lucas Sick both average just over five points per contest.
Keegan DeWitt , Jack Bolin , Hendrik Lowry , Sawyer Veldhuizen , Connor Dill , Kellan Hill , Michael Spooner and Ethan Dunsbergen rounds out the Hawks roster.
The Wolves and Hawks square off on Monday at 12:15 p.m. at Wells Fargo Arena.