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Washington Evening Journal
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The Raiders’ road to State
Win over Keokuk sends Williamsburg to Des Moines
No one was talking state while Williamsburg boys’ basketball was losing seven of 13 games during the heart of its schedule.
And yet, now the Raiders are heading to Wells Fargo Arena after topping Keokuk, 51-40, on Monday, Feb. 26, at the Alliant Energy PowerHouse in Cedar Rapids.
“It means everything to me and our team,” senior Derek Weisskopf said. “We haven’t been there since 2015. Hopefully we can do some damage there.”
The climb will continue to be uphill, as the Raiders (16-8) were assigned the eighth seed and face top seed Decorah (22-2) at 2 p.m. Tuesday, March 5.
“It’s just a crazy feeling,” senior Braden Plotz said.
Williamsburg reached the substate final by beating Fort Madison, 70-64, then topping Clear Creek Amana, 83-63, in a substate semifinal. And Keokuk may have helped by upsetting the Substate 5 top seed Solon, 56-53.
But the Chiefs posed a serious threat, with 6-foot-9 sophomore Jaxon Clark averaging 19.8 points and 11.5 rebounds per game inside.
The Raiders countered with the 6-foot-4, 250-pound Plotz.
“We knew he was a great player,” Plotz said. “I knew when I was told I had him, I was going to do my all to shut him down. Their offense ran through him.”
Clark finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds, but the offense rarely ran through the big sophomore.
“Braden did a phenomenal job,” Weisskopf said. “That kid is a brick house.”
Unable to work the ball inside, the Chiefs started taking 3-pointers, and were just 2 of 23 from distance.
“We were able to shut them down,” Plotz said. “They were forced to take those outside shots, which was our game plan.”
The game was a bit of a grind early on, but the Raiders found their offense and led, 26-13 at half. An 8-2 run to start the second half — including a Grant Hocker 3-pointer — put Williamsburg up 19 points.
Keokuk cut the lead to nine points, with two minutes to play, but never got any closer. Weisskopf hit a pair of foul shots and had a steal and dunk in the final 15 seconds.
Weisskopf finished with 21 points. Hocker added nine points, and senior forward Kellen Cockrell had eight points and 15 rebounds.
Keokuk finished 17-7.
“We had tons of adversity this year,” Weisskopf said. “Our conference was so good this year, and it got us ready for this.
“It wasn’t the prettiest, but we grinded through.”
Stats
Raiders 51, Chiefs 40
KEOKUK (40) — Diego Garcia 4-17 2-6 10, Chase Eckland 0-7 0-0 0, Brenton Hoard 3-9 3-5 9, Tramell Smith 0-4 0-0 0, Jaxon Clark 6-10 3-4 16, Chevy Barnes 0-0 0-0 0, Lucas Thompson 1-1 0-0 3, Drew Campbell 0-3 0-0 0, Bode Beagles 1-2 0-0 2, Julius Clay 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 15-54 8-15 40.
WILLIAMSBURG (51) — Clayten Steckly 1-3 0-0 2, Grant Hocker 4-11 0-0 9, Derek Weisskopf 8-18 4-4 21, Braden Plotz 2-7 1-2 5, Kellen Cockrell 3-7 2-4 8, Simeon Armbrecht 2-2 0-0 4, Bryson Wetjen 0-0 0-0 0, Logan Rethwisch 0-0 0-0 0, John Eichhorn 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 21-49 7-10 51.
Keokuk 5 8 9 18 — 40
Williamsburg 9 17 12 13 — 51
3-point goals — Keokuk 2-23 (Garcia 0-5, Eckland 0-4, Hoard 0-4, Smith 0-3, Clark 1-3, Thompson 1-1, Campbell 0-2, Clay 0-1), WB 2-13 (Steckly 0-3, Hocker 1-3, Weisskopf 1-5, Cockrell 0-2). Rebounds — Keokuk 31 (Clark 13), WB 37 (Cockrell 15). Assists — Keokuk 5, WB 11 (Steckly 4, Cockrell 4). Turnovers — Keokuk 11, WB 13. Total fouls — Keokuk 13, WB 13.
