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Wolves hammer Hawks in 4th to advance to 1A semifinals
No. 4 Winfield-Mt. Union tops No. 5 Lynnville-Sully in state quarterfinal
DES MOINES — 1996.
That’s the last time the Wolves of Winfield-Mt. Union graced the state basketball semifinals.
Now WMU can say 2024 after its 54-37 victory over Lynnville-Sully on Monday morning’s Class 1A state quarterfinal.
The Wolves (21-2) blitzed the Hawks (24-2) in the opening stages of the fourth quarter on their way to a state tournament win.
"It's been a rush of emotions to get here," Winfield-Mt. Union center Abram Edwards said. "We've had a lot of close games leading here. It means a lot. It shows how resilient we are. To win this one is a huge accomplishment. Something that we haven't done in a really long time. It feels great."
Whatever emotions there were seemed to never overwhelm the Wolves.
"One thing I told the whole team is being at the dome for football and a lot of us being on the state track team we've performed in almost every major state event,“ Winfield-Mt. Union’s Cam Buffington, who scored a game-high 21 points, said. ”So we could come in here, no nerves and just play. Coach said just com in and play loose and have fun."
While seven points was as large a lead WMU could build through three quarters, everything changed in the opening stages of the fourth.
After holding just a six-point lead, 32-26, at the end of the third, the Wolves turned it up a notch.
WMU senior guard Gabriel Hemsworth got the Wolves going with a three ball and the flood gates opened.
After a blocked shot by Hemsworth on the other end, Carter Loyd, who scored all 12 of his points in the second half, eight in the fourth, buried a three of his own and six points turned into 12 in a matter of minutes.
"We've asked him (Carter Loyd) to do so much defensively on some of these good players from Notre Dame and Holy Trinity,“ WMU head coach Klay Edwards said. ”It's taken some out of him, but the way he played offensively that second half was fantastic. That's what we want to see him do all the time. Attack and take the open threes.“
Abram Edwards and Loyd followed with back-to-back converted and-ones. With a two from Buffington and yet another deep ball this time from Jake Edwards the Wolves put together a 17-0 run through four minutes making it 49-26.
“We really just hounded on the same things,” Klay Edwards said. “Limit them to one shot and keep moving on defense and talking. That's what we hang our hat one. I think we have the best defensive average in the state. Attack when we can on offense. A group of seniors, they know what it takes. Going to state in football helped a lot. They have a lot of poise.”
They would never give it up.
WMU held Lynnville-Sully scoreless for almost five minutes with its first bucket coming at the 3:06 mark.
The Hawks scored 11 from that point on, but it wasn’t enough to turn the game around.
Winfield-Mt. Union never trailed against Lynnville-Sully.
Defense shined early as the Wolves led 7-2 after eight minutes of action off a Jake Edwards three and a pair of buckets from Cam Buffington.
WMU was nearly flawless defensively in the opening period not giving up a point until four seconds remained.
In the second, a two handed slam from Buffington kicked off the Wolves’ scoring, but a 7-2 run from the Hawks cut it to two, 11-9.
WMU answered once again with Buffington. The forward scored seven straight himself to put the Wolves up seven.
“I was throwing up some jump shots I don't usually take and they were going in,” Buffington said. “We got to practice in Carver and get the feel for the hoops and I was hitting them at Carver. I was like I like these hoops. Shots were falling and it went our way.”
Buffington picked up his second foul in the final two minutes and Lynnville-Sully took advantage.
The Hawks cut the Wolves’ lead to three before the break.
In the second half, WMU went up by as much as six in the first two minutes, but Buffington was tagged with his third foul on a charge with around three minutes to go.
“That's just the way basketball is, you're not going to get every call,” Buffington said. “Our team really stepped up. You can't ask for much more. Guys off the bench came in and hustled, and got balls on the floor. You can't ask for much more.”
WMU did well to keep up the pace. Not only did the Wolves hold onto the lead, they extended it with Buffington on the bench.
“Cam started out really good and then got in foul trouble, so we had to sit him,” Abram Edwards said. ”What we though we had to do at that point was just defend and make sure they don't go on a crazy run and come back. We just locked in defensively and tried to get it inside to get some of their guys in foul trouble.“
The Wolves made it tough indeed, that was in large part to the likes of sophomore Max Edwards and senior Cole Milks. The pair replaced Buffington both times he was in foul trouble and held their own.
“Yeah definitely,” Edwards said of Max and Cole play, “When he went out (Buffington), Cole came in and Max came in they really did a nice job. They were really active defensively. They did a fantastic job.”
With just under three minutes to go and clinging onto a one-point lead, 26-25, Carter Loyd got fouled going to the cup and nailed both from the stripe to give WMU a three point cushion.
Abram Edwards hanged and banged down low, scoring the Wolves’ next four to put the Wolves up 32-26 before the fourth.
“Growing up, you build a court in the backyard and you practice right hand left hand all the time," Klay Edwards said. ”That's what he does. He goes over both shoulders. That's what he does. He didn't have much room in that game, when he touched the ball there we three guys around him. It might not have been the shooting performance he wanted, but he did what he needed to do. He distributed the ball really well in the second half. Him and Cam both are awesome passers.“
Cam Buffington led Winfield-Mt. Union with 21 points and nine rebounds. Carter Loyd finished with 12 points, five rebounds and two assists. Jake Edwards and Abram Edwards both finished with nine points and four rebounds. Abram also had five assists. Gabriel Hemsworth had three points, five rebounds and three assists.
Lynnville-Sully ends its season at 24-2.
Winfield-Mt. Union will take on top seeded North Linn (23-1) in the semifinal round. The Lynx defeated Woodbine 75-59 in their quarterfinal bout.
“This is pretty special,” Klay Edwards said. “It's been quite awhile since we've had someone back up here. Not just for Winfield, but for Southeast Iowa. We've had teams get up here a decent amount recently, but no one could come out with a win. Just the fact that we represent Southeast Iowa and the Super Conference, the North Division and to bring back a win to Southeast Iowa feels really good.”
