Pella packs up a title

DES MOINES - The top two seeds in Iowa's second-largest boys basketball class navigated a field full of land mines to reach Friday night's Class 3A final at Wells Fargo Arena.

Once there, Pella pulled away from a 5-5 tie with Ballard for an 11-7 lead and never trailed again. The Little Dutch defeated the top-seeded Bombers, 68-59, to win the third championship in school history, first since back-to-back titles in 2002-03.

Both Washington and Mt. Pleasant had home games this season against the Little Dutch. Pella won both of those road games by 32 points.

Class 3A

Ballard (25-2) drained No. 8 Clear Lake 68-45 in the first round, then knocked away No. 5 Davenport Assumption in the semifinal win 74-65. Pella (25-2) cruised past No. 7 Monticello, 59-46, and No. 6 Sergeant Bluff-Luton, 46-32.

Monticello qualified for state for the first time in 60 years last season, in Class 2A. Enrollment bumped up and its 3A. Despite virtually the entire team returning, there were doubts, despite going unbeaten in the regular season and winning the River Valley Conference title. But it was a schedule with a single 3A team before the postseason, adding fuel to the naysayers' fire.

The Panthers (22-1) weren't the top seed in their substate and were seeded seventh at state. They immediately got behind Pella, trailed by 13 at halftime, whittled the deficit to as little as three a couple times and had a tying 3-pointer miss late in the third.

Pella got to state with a 63-52 win over Grinnell. Washington led Grinnell 48-47 with .07 on the clock but two free throws were the difference.

Class 2A

Western Christian took a 29-20 halftime lead that Boyden Hull squeezed to 42-38 after the third quarter. The Wolfpack held on to claim its 10th state title.

Boyden-Hull easily defended its No. 1 seed 74-49 over South Central Calhoun then scored a bit closer win in the semifinals, 77-66 over Aplington-Parkersburg, which defeated Van Meter 68-41 in the first round. Des Moines Christian ran over Dyersville Beckman 58-38 and the other first round game was Western Christian over Camanche 71-55. In a battle of Christians, it was Western over Des Moines 56-47 in the semifinal.

Camanche (18-7) defeated Mid-Prairie in a substate semifinal. Western Christian shot 52.1 percent as a team, while Camanche shot 42.9 percent and was 4-for-20 on threes. Western Christian's Wyatt Gulker and Ty Van Essen combined to go 15-for-23 from the field, with five of the team's six 3-pointers and led 44-28 at halftime. In the second half, Camanche matched Western Christian with 27 points, but could not dig its way out of the early hole, despite 17 points from Jordan Lawrence, and 12 points apiece from Zach Erwin and Zayne Feller.

Class 4A

Waukee (12-4) Johnston (15-2) scored a semifinal win, 64-51, over Cedar Falls, which spent much of the season as the No. 1 team in the biggest class. It did not spend much time there at the state tournament. It disposed of Dubuque Senior 42-27, but couldn't handle Johnston. Johnston downed Dowling 49-33 in the quarterfinal. Waukee echoed through Pleasant Valley 65-43, then dismantled Ames 71-36. Ames opened with a 54-37 win against Council Bluffs Lincoln 54-37.

All-Tournament Teams

CLASS 1A

Trey Shearer, Montezuma (captain)

Cole Watts, Montezuma

Dylan Kurt, North Linn

Eddie Burgess, Montezuma

Austin Hilmer, North Linn

CLASS 2A

Ty Van Essen, Western Christian (captain)

Wyatt Gulker, Western Christian

Macrus Kelderman, Boyden-Hull

Jayden Mackie, Aplington-Parkersburg

Tanner Te Slaa, Boyden-Hull

CLASS 3A

Karl Miller, Pella

Connor Drew, Ballard

Emarion Ellis, Assumption

Ashton Hermann, Ballard

Grant Nelson, Pella

CLASS 4A

Steven Kramer, Johnston (captain)

Omaha Biliew, Waukee

Tucker DeVries, Waukee

Tamin Lipsey, Ames

Payton Sandfort, Waukee