Tigers get six seed

By Andy Krutsinger, Mt. Pleasant News

NEW LONDON ? The brackets are finally out and the New London basketball team knows its path to a potential state title.

The Tigers (21-3) will face undefeated St. Mary?s (24-0) in Monday?s quarterfinal game. New London got the six seed in the tournament and the Hawks got the three.

The two teams have not played and are separated by 341 miles. St. Mary?s is located in Remsen, which is located at in the western side of the state, near Sioux City.

The Hawks had a much different road to the state tournament than New London. St. Mary?s won the district championship over LeMars Gehlen, 43-41, and the substate over Boyden-Hull, 56-51.

The Tigers, on the other hand, didn?t have a single-digit win during their district run. Their closest game was a 51-38 win over Danville and they ran past Lisbon in the substate, 67-48.

St. Mary?s is led by 6?4? junior post Nicholas Ruden, who scores 15.3 points per game and leads the team with 110 rebounds.

Ruden had 10 points and six rebounds to lead the team during the Hawks? two-point win over Gehlen Catholic and scored 18 points in the five-point win over Boyden-Hull.

The Tigers will play the third game of the state tournament on Monday, March 6, at 2 p.m. Second-seeded Des Moines Grand View will play Britt West Hancock in the following game, at 3:45 p.m.

On the other side of the bracket, North Linn got the No. 1 seed and will host Maple Valley-Anthon-Oto at 12:15 p.m. In the four-five game, Gladbrook-Reinbeck will take on Lynnville Sully. That game will kick off the tournament, at 10:30 a.m.