State basketball by the numbers

DES MOINES — In just a handful of days, a competitive Class 2A boys basketball season reaches its peak as the eight remaining teams battle for a state championship.

Third-seeded Mid-Prairie, the lone Union coverage area team left in high school winter sports, lays claim to the best record in Class 2A. The Golden Hawks are 24-0, the only unbeaten team left in the field.

Top-seeded Central Lyon and fifth-seeded Roland Story both sport 22-2 records. Six-seeded Monticello is 21-3. Second-seeded Rock Valley and seventh-seeded Jesup are each 19-5. Fourth-seeded Pella Christian is 18-6, and eighth-seeded Red Oak has the worst record in 18-7.

Mid-Prairie knows how to put up points. The Golden Hawks have scored 64.4 points per game this season, but where does that rank among the eight-team field that fills the Class 2A bracket?

Mid-Prairie is actually right in the middle. The Golden Hawks are the fourth-highest scoring team in the field. Central Lyon (77.6 ppg) and Jesup (74.6 ppg) are way out ahead of the group in this category, as the third-leading scorers, Roland-Story sit almost 10 points behind Jesup, at 65.1 points per game.

But when it comes to point differential, the Golden Hawks look a lot better.

Mid-Prairie has beaten teams by an average of 21.8 points per game this season. That’s more than anyone else in the group, with Cyntral Lyon (20.5 ppg) and Roland-Story (20.2 ppg) being the only other two teams over 20.

Red Oak sits at the bottom of that list by a long shot, outscoring teams by just 6.6 points per game this year. Mid-Prairie’s opening round opponent, Monticello, is second worse at 12.9.

Golden Hawks senior Carter Harmsen has lit teams up all season, but he isn’t the top scorer in the field. That honor belongs to Jesup senior Carson Lienau, who scores 20.9 points per game. Harmsen sits third, behind Lienau and Central Lyon junior Zach Lutmer.

Speaking of Lienau, he’s also the leading board-getter in the field. The J-Hawks star pulls down 11.5 rebounds per game. Roland-Story junior Luke Patton collects 11 boards per contest. Pella Christian’s Eric Mulder pulls down 9.1 rebounds per game, and Harmsen is fourth in the field with 8.3.

Mid-Prairie senior Jackson Pennington dishes out 4.1 assists per game, which is fourth-most in the field. Central Lyon’s Lutmer leads in that category, giving out 6.3. Jesup senior Parker McHone dishes out 5.8 helpers per contest, and Monticello junior Tate Petersen gives out 5.5.

The Golden Hawks will be facing the best scoring duo in the tournament. Petersen and sophomore Preston Ries combine for 27.7 points per game, accounting for nearly two-thirds of Monticello’s 60 points per game.

When it comes to shooting from the outside, both Mid-Prairie and Monticello are just over 34 percent, right in the middle of the Class 2A field. The hottest shooting team in the tournament is Central Lyon, which nails 38 percent of its shots behind the arc.

The Golden Hawks might not want to turn Tuesday morning’s matchup into a free throw shooting contest. Monticello leads the field with a 71.3 percent mark from the charity stripe. Mid-Prairie is last in the group, hitting just 61.7 percent.

All these numbers get put to the test when the clock hits 10:30 a.m., on Tuesday. Mid-Prairie and Monticello will kick off four-straight Class 2A games, as the field whittles down to four by the end of the night, two by Thursday night and one after Saturday’s championship.