Winfield-Mt. Union gets Lynnville-Sully in 1A quarterfinals

WINFIELD — The stage is set for Winfield-Mt. Union boys basketball.

After battling through the district and substate rounds of the playoffs, the Wolves (20-2) are heading back to the state tournament for the first time since 1996.

The No. 5 ranked Wolves’ first round opponent is the No. 7 ranked Hawks of Lynnville-Sully (24-1).

WMU is the No. 4 seed in the 1A bracket, while Lynnville-Sully is the No. 5 seed.

The Wolves have had a heck of a run thus far. Through the regular season, the Wolves suffered just two losses, one to a Illini Bluffs, 55-48, in the third game of the season in which they didn’t have leading scorer Cam Buffington and once more to Class 2A state tournament bound No. 6 West Burlington 45-38.

  Buy Photo

Aside from the pair of losses, the Wolves had a dominant run. Eight points and 15 points were the closest games the Wolves had all regular season.

Things got tighter in the postseason, but the Wolves hunkered down and found a way to get the job done. After breezing through the first two rounds of district play, WMU went down to the wire in back-to-back games to get to state.

In the district semifinal, WMU made a comeback after trailing Burlington Notre Dame by 14 points late in the third quarter. A pair of free throws late put the Wolves over the top 51-49.

Finally, the Wolves held off a late surge by Holy Trinity Catholic in the substate final, hoisting the state banner after a 46-41 win.

The Wolves are led by senior forward Cam Buffington in the scoring department. Buffington averages 19.1 points per game, 7.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists. Buffington has a 54.8% field goal percentage as well.

Fellow senior Abram Edwards is the man in the middle. The 6’6“ forward is a glass cleaner averaging a double double with 14.4 points and 11.6 rebounds. He can also dish the rock, tallying 3.5 assists. From the field, Edwards is shooting an efficient 63.3% from the field.

The lone none senior in the starting five is junior Jake Edwards. Edwards who stands at 6’4“ is the perfect combo guard. He’s averaging 10.7 points and a team leading 4.0 assists. Edwards is the teams leading three point shooter with a 39.5% clip. He also averages a team leading 2.5 steals a game.

Senior guard Carter Loyd is averaging 8.6 points. As athletic two guard, Loyd does a little bit of everything for the Wolves, dishing out 3.0 assists a game and grabbing 2.2 rebounds. Loyd is one of WMU’s top on ball defenders around the perimeter, but can also take on bigger guards.

The final starter for the Wolves is senior guard Gabe Hemsworth. Hemsworth is averaging 5.1 points a game and 3.0 assists. Hemsworth is one of the Wolves top three point shooters as well, pulling a 33.3% from deep. While it might not show on the stat sheet, Hemsworth is a top on ball defender, who is often on the oppositions top ballhandler.

Off the bench, senior Cole Milks is the only other player to average over four points at 4.2. He also pulls down 3.0 rebounds a night.

Kael Johnson (1.2 PPG), Grant Anderson (1.2 PPG), Max Edwards (1.1 PPG), Nicholas Sparrow (0.5 PPG) and Eli Miller (0.4 PPG) all come off the bench as well.

As for Lynnville-Sully, it has just one loss on the season. That loss came against No. 6 Keota 59-56. The Hawks next closest game through the regular season was a two point win over North Mahaska back in December.

The Hawks didn’t have a single digit win through their postseason run. Lynnville-Sully’s closest game came in the second round of the playoffs, which was a 13 point win over Southeast Warren.

For the state tournament birth, the Hawks downed Bedford 64-50.

The Hawks have just two scorers in double figures. Senior Mitchell Miller is averaging 12.8 points and Klayton Van Dyke is scoring 12.5 points a game.

Van Dyke is also the Hawks leading rebounder averaging 6.9 boards a game. He’s also posting a field goal percentage of 66.2%

Sophomore Dawson James is averaging 9.4 points a contest with 6.8 rebounds and a field goal percentage of 57.3% Senior Corder Noun Harder scores 8.9 points with 4.8 assists and 2.5 rebounds.

Junior Carson Maston and senior Lucas Sieck both average just over five points a contest. Maston sits at 5.2 points a game and Sieck 5.1.

Keegan DeWitt (4.3 PPG), Jack Bowlin (3.3), Hendrick Lowry (3.3 PPG), Sawyer Veldhuizen (2.0 PPG), Connor Deal (1.7 PPG), Kellan Hill (0.8 PPG), Michael Spooner (0.6 PPG) and Ethan Dunsbergen (0.5 PPG) round out the Hawks roster.

The Wolves and Hawks will square off on Monday at 12:15 p.m. at Wells Fargo Arena.