Hawks Face Colo-Nesco in District Semifinal

EG ADVANCES WITH 68-17 THUMPING OF SWG

East Greene’s tuned up for tonight’s semifinal district game against state-ranked Colo-Nesco with a 68-17 romp over Southeast Webster-Grand on Thursday night in a district basketball opening round game in Rippey.

The Hawks dominated the game from start to finish, jumping out to a 27-6 first quarter lead. EG was up 53-10 at the half, and then held SWG scoreless in the third quarter, padding the lead to 62-10.

Zach Dearborn led the Hawk scoring brigade with 16 points. Nic Nicolaisen scored 14 points and snared 8 rebounds with Aaron Lyons also in double figures with 10 points. EG shot a blistering 56% from the field, connecting on 30 of 54 shots while holding the Eagles to just 7 of 34. The Hawks forced SWG into 31 turnovers and had a big edge in rebounding, 32-23.

EG went 3-11 from the 3-point line and hit half of their 10 free throw attempts. SWG was 0-5 on 3-point attempts and 3-12 from the free throw line for 25% accuracy.

SWG closed out the season with a 3-20 mark. EG advances to the semifinal round with an 18-4 record.

The Hawks face a big challenge tonight against in Colo against No. 9-ranked Colo-Nesco (19-2), co-champs of the Iowa Star-South Conference. Colo-Nesco beat Madrid 55-28 in a quarterfinal round game Thursday in Colo. One of CN’s two losses this season came to league co-champ North Tama, 57-51, the No. 10 team in the state. CN beat North Tama earlier in the season, 49-48. Its other loss was to Iowa Star-South conference foe Don Bosco (Gilbertville), 52-29, which was avenged later in the season with a 50-48 win.

CN has also handed Northeast Hamilton (20-2), winners of the Iowa Star-North crown, with just one of its two losses of the season.

The Royals are lead by 6-1 senior forward Brandon Eley, who averages 20 points and 11 rebounds a game. Against Madrid, Eley dropped in 24 points and pulled down 13 rebounds.

Should the Hawks get by Colo-Nesco they would face either Van Meter (5-17), a surprise winner over Ankeny Christian Academy, 48-45, or Coon Rapids-Bayard (14-6), which advanced with a 35-27 win over Glidden-Ralston. Those two teams square off tonight in Coon Rapids. The district finals are Thursday in Story City.

CRB, which was one of the eight teams in the 1A state tourney field last year, is peaking at the right time as the Crusaders won their sixth straight game at Glidden.

EYE ON GJ SAYS: On paper, it looks like Colo-Nesco is the hands-down favorite. The Royals appear to have everything in their favor—home-court advantage, a lofty state ranking, and a conference championship under their belt. But all those positives could work in East Greene’s favor as the Royals could easily dismiss the Hawks and ignore their 19 wins as mostly against inferior teams of the Rolling Hills Conference. But when you look at the participants in the last two Class 1A state tournaments, the Rolling Hills has been represented by Ankeny Christian (2010) and Adair-Casey (2009). And who made it to state those two years among the 12 Iowa Star teams (two more than the RH’s 10)? No one.

In fact, the Iowa Star has not had a representative at state since Dunkerton made it to state and won the crown in 2004. Since then, the West Central, where EG competed, sent four teams to state: Des Moines Christian in 2007, Guthrie Center in 2008, and both CRB in 1A and DMC in 2A in last year’s field while the Iowa State sent none.

But Colo-Nesco has a solid basketball tradition, having made it to the district finals five of the last seven years. The Royals won the district in 2004 and then lost to Dunkerton in the substate. CN also made it to substate in 2009 and 2008. Last year, the Royals were sidelined in Colo in the semifinal round by Grandview Park Baptist, a team that went on to the district crown but then lost to Ankeny Christian in the substate.

EG’s win over SWG was just the first time since 2003 that the Hawks have advanced past the quarterfinal round. That year, EG beat CRB in Coon Rapids, 53-46, but then fell to Hubbard-Radcliffe, 52-45, in a game also played at Coon Rapids. Hubbard-Radcliffe squeaked by Northeast Hamilton, 47-45, in the district final and then beat East Union (Afton) to win the substate and advance to the state tournament.

Look for CRB to get by Van Meter in the other semifinal round game. CRB and CN both play a hard-nosed brand of defense, much like Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton, a team EG battled with twice in the Rolling Hills this year, with the Spartans winning both games and taking the league crown.

The District 12 finals are on Thursday with the winner advancing to the Substate 6 game in Marshalltown to face the winner of District 11. Semifinal games in that district tonight have North Tama hosting HLV (Victor) and Melcher-Dallas at Lynville-Sully. The winners meet on Thursday at Meskwaki Settlement School near Tama. Lynville-Sully is the No. 6 ranked team in Class 1A.

Hopefully, the Royals will be a little too confident and have their eyes on a possible showdown with North Tama in the substate, thinking they can glide by their upcoming foes from the other side of Interstate 35 on their way to substate.