Raiders shoot for State

The way hasn’t always been smooth for the Williamsburg boys’ basketball team this season, but after last weekend, the Raiders were on the verge of every team’s favorite destination — the state tournament.

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Williamsburg (15-8) opened Class 3A play with a 70-64 win over Fort Madison Feb. 19, then upset Clear Creek Amana 83-63 Feb. 22 in Tiffin.

That win was the third meeting between the WaMaC rivals — and CCA had won the first two, 70-63 and 56-55.

“Getting beat on a buzzer-beater, that takes it out of you,” Williamsburg Coach Brad Knoop said, referring to the second CCA loss. “But I thought we played well in both of them.”

This go-round was all Williamsburg.

Senior Derek Weisskopf led the way with a 37-point, 11-rebound performance, and was doused with water in the locker room following his big game.

The Iowa football recruit shot 14-of-19 from the field (4-of-6 from 3) and 5-of-5 at the line.

But Knoop emphasized it was a real team win.

“All phases were excellent, and we shot the ball better than we have all year,” Knoop said. The Raiders were 33 of 55 (60%) from the field. “All the other guys stepped up and hit shots. It was just a total team effort.”

That put the Raiders one win from Des Moines. They were scheduled to play Keokuk (17-6) in sub-state finals Monday at the Alliant Energy PowerHouse in Cedar Rapids.

The Chiefs upset the substate’s top seed, Solon, 56-53.

Win, and it’ll be a pretty dramatic run for a team that started the season 5-0, got into the Class 3A rankings, then went 7-8, grinding through a difficult WaMaC schedule.

“The last two years, we’ve had good teams, with two conference champs,” Knoop said. “This year we had a whole new lineup, so there was a little learning aspect.

“But these kids are competitors, and they’ve played in big games in a lot of sports.”

The playoff push started with the win over the Bloodhounds.

Grant Hocker led the team with 21 points, and Weisskopf had 18 points and 10 rebounds. Kellen Cockrell added 11 points.

“It took time to build this team, and they’ve figured it out a little bit,” Knoop said. “They’ve realized what they’ve got.”

The Raiders are taking aim at their first state trip since 2015.

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Stats

Raiders 70, Bloodhounds 64

FORT MADISON (64) — Julian Dear 2-9 3-4 8, Dayton Lamar 4-5 1-1 9, Carson Rashid 2-5 0-0 5, Leif Boeding 2-7 1-1 6, Hunter Cresswell 9-15 2-3 22, Nolan Guzman 5-11 1-1 13. Totals 24-52 8-10 64.

WILLIAMSBURG (70) — Clayten Steckly 1-4 2-2 5, Grant Hocker 9-13 0-0 21, Derek Weisskopf 7-15 2-2 18, Braden Plotz 3-9 2-2 8, Kellen Cockrell 5-9 1-2 11, Simeon Armbrecht 3-4 1-2 7, Bryson Wetjen 0-0 0-0 0, Logan Rethwisch 0-1 0-0 0, John Eichhorn 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-55 8-10 70.

Fort Madison 17 7 17 23 — 64

Williamsburg 19 15 18 18 — 70

3-point goals — FM 8-20 (Dear 1-3, Rashid 2-3, Boeding 1-3, Cresswell 2-5, Guzman 2-6), WB 6-13 (Steckly 1-2, Hocker 3-5, Weisskopf 2-5, Rethwisch 0-1). Rebounds — FM 18 (Lamar 7), WB 35 (Weiskopf 10). Assists — FM 12 (Dear 4), WB 15 (Steckly 4). Turnovers — FM 13, WB 11. Total fouls — FM n/a, WB 9.

Raiders 83, Clippers 63

WILLIAMSBURG (83) — Clayten Steckly 3-5 0-0 8, Grant Hocker 4-8 1-2 10, Derek Weisskopf 14-19 5-5 37, Braden Plotz 5-9 0-0 10, Kellen Cockrell 4-8 3-3 11, Braysen Doehrmann 0-1 0-0, Simeon Armbrecht 1-2 0-0 2, Bryson Wetjen 1-1 0-0 2, Logan Rethwisch 1-2 0-0 3, John Eichhorn 0-0 0-2 0. Totals 33-55 9-12 83.

CLEAR CREEK AMANA (63) — Haiden Hardy 6-13 1-3 13, Brock Hilsman 0-3 1-2 1, Cale Berry 3-5 0-0 6, Andrew Rotzoll 11-21 6-7 32, Brody Clubb 3-7 2-2 9, Robert Meade 0-1 0-0 0, Owen Rosenberg 0-0 0-0 0, Ethan Vice 1-3 0-1 2. Totals 24-53 10-15 63.

Williamsburg 24 18 21 20 — 83

Clear Creek Amana 14 13 15 21 — 63

3-point goals — WB 8-15 (Steckly 2-3, Hocker 1-2, Weisskopf 4-6, Cockrell 0-1, Doehrmann 0-1, Rethwisch 1-2), CCA 5-15 (Hardy 0-2, Hilsman 0-2, Rotzoll 4-9 Clubb 1-2). Rebounds — WB 32 (Weisskopf 11), CCA 19 (Hardy 5). Assists — WB 23 (Cockrell 5), CCA 10 (Hardy 3, Clubb 3). Turnovers — WB 11, CCA 13. Total fouls — WB 13, CCA 11. Fouled out — Clubb.