Area teams improve on previous seasons

Several area boys basketball team ended their seasons in the first-round of Class 1A districts Monday night, though they saw improvement in the win column over last season.

Montezuma was the lone area boys basketball team to advance in the first-round of districts Monday night.

The Braves topped BGM 71-40.

Scoring was balanced for the Braves; Kohen Holland scored 20, Brady Boulton 19 and David Rose 17.

BGM closes the season 5-18.

Baxter 58, Iowa Valley 51

BAXTER — The Tigers held a lead at halftime, but Baxter used a big fourth quarter to come away with a 58-51 win at home.

Caleb Haack was the lone Tiger in double figures, with 24 points. He added 16 rebounds. Owen Ary scored eight.

For the first time in three seasons, the Tigers finished above .500 at 12-11.

“Coach Grant and I introduced a lot of new things and asked them to do things they were not used to doing,” Iowa Valley coach Josh Konicek said. “Everyone improved from day one, and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

It was the last game for Tigers all-time leading scorer Haack.

“Caleb has been a perfect example of what being an Iowa Valley Tiger is,” said Konicek. ”He really improved his game from year to year and became the leader we needed this year.“

“I also want to give a shoutout to our other senior Asher Stubblefield. His name never really showed up on the stat sheet, but alongside Caleb, he was our motivator on the bench,” Konicek added.

The Tigers will return a young core of players next season.

Sigourney 56, HLV-TC 41

SIGOURNEY — It was closer than their previous match-up, but HLV-TC fell at Sigourney Monday night to conclude its season at 9-13.

The scoring was almost even the last three quarters, but the Savages had opened the game with a 21-9 lead at the end of the first.

The nine wins in the first HLV-TC combined season is a four-win improvement over HLV’s record last season.

“I was fairly pleased with what we were able to accomplish,” HLV-TC coach Shawn Welsh said. “Obviously I would have liked to have won more games, but with combining two programs that only combined for six wins last year, this was a step in the right direction.”

Three senior starters for the Warriors made strong impacts on the court this season.

Peyton Roth has been the ultimate contributor to the program the last four years in more ways than one.

“The amount of work that Peyton has put into this program over the last four years is a testament to who he is as an individual,” Welsh said. “He was the leader that brought everybody together and made the sharing transition as successful as it was.”

Roth finishes his career with 1,130 points, with 900 coming the past two season.

A great compliment to Roth this season was Levi Molyneux, who came over from Tri-County.

“I wish that I would have the opportunity to coach Levi for more than one season,” said Welsh. “Defensively he was active and helped force a lot of turnovers because of his length.”

Devon Weisskopf also always provided good minutes in the post, even though he usually played undersized compared to other conference posts.

North Mahaska 75, English Valleys 19

NEW SHARON — Top-seeded North Mahaska flexed its muscles early and didn’t look back in its win over English Valleys Monday.

The Bears finish the season 4-20 but will bring back a roster that was filled mostly with underclassmen. Twelve of 14 on the roster are freshmen and sophomores.

“It was a message early on this season that it wasn’t about wins and losses,” English Valleys coach Zach Weilbacher said. “Numbers were up this year and there was more of a focus on growth and learning how to compete.”

With much of the roster returning, the Bears are optimistic that they’ll improve next season.

“Excited for the future,” said Weilbahcer. “We had growing pains but felt like the team grew as the season went on.”

Dunkerton 83, Belle Plaine 56

DUNKERTON — The Plainsmen’s season concluded with a loss at Dunkerton Monday night. Belle Plaine ends the season 5-17.

The Plainsmen’s all-senior starting lineup this seasons included 1,000-point scorer Sam DeMeulenaere.

“It’s been a really fun year working with this senior class,” Belle Plain coach Brant DeMeulenaere said. “They came ready to compete and were great leaders on and off the court. The future looks bright with a solid younger group.”