Five Takeaways: Waukee 45 vs Hoover 38
Ankeny — Not surprisingly, this game was about as knock-down drag-out as it gets, but Waukee was able to withstand the Huskies staunch D and fourth quarter flurries to come away with the relatively comfortable seven point win. It was…
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Continue ReadingAnkeny — Not surprisingly, this game was about as knock-down drag-out as it gets, but Waukee was able to withstand the Huskies staunch D and fourth quarter flurries to come away with the relatively comfortable seven point win.
It was nip-and-tuck throughout, and Waukee, which led this one wire-to-wire, never led by more than seven. It was some tough buckets from Dylan Jones and some extremely clutch free-throw shooting from Andrew Curran that propelled the Warriors to their ninth-ever state tourney appearance.
Hoover’s Adam Jackson got a couple steals and subsequent tough buckets during a flurry in the fourth quarter, and brought the Huskies to within one, 32-31. But Waukee did well to re-establish a comfortable lead, and Hoover never really threatened again.
Curran could be regarded as the MVP for the Warriors, he was 8-8 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter. In a low scoring tight game like this, it was especially critical that he make those free-throws.
Jones led the way for Waukee with 14 points, all in the paint. The Warriors will play in the state tourney for the third time in five years.
Hoover was led by Jackson’s 18 points. Fellow senior Hosea Treadwell scored all 10 of his points in the final nine minutes of the game. The Huskies finish their 2018-19 campaign at 14-10.
Team Scoring
Hoover — 7 11 4 16 — 38
Waukee — 10 12 6 17 — 45
Individual Scoring
Hoover: Adam Jackson 18, Hosea Treadwell 10, Kenny Quinn 7, Jonathan Beverly 3.
Waukee: Dylan Jones 14, Andrww Curran 12, Payton Sandfort 10, Michale Vicente 5, Tucker DeVries 4.
Five Takeaways
Curran Clutch
The most important part of this game for Waukee was arguably Andrew Curran’s fourth quarter foul shooting. He had not scored since the first quarter, but was fouled often in the fourth, and he canned all eight of his free-throws in the final frame. It’s always important to make free-throws, especially late in the game, but it becomes even more critical when the game is close and low scoring like this one was.
Jones Gets Tough
The much smaller but athletic Hoover forwards were making life difficult for Dylan Jones in the paint tonight. He was being double-teamed often and had to kick out to a teammate more often than he went up for a lay-in. With Hoover down just three and making a run, Waukee called timeout. Coach Justin Ohl drew up a beautiful play design and it led to Jones getting the ball near the rim, he went right up and finished through contact, got the foul and made the free-throw to put Waukee up six with just three minutes left. He let out a burst of excitement after the foul was called. It seemed that was the game-clincher.
Hoover Seniors
For the 10th straight season, Hoover found itself playing in a Substate final, that’s pretty remarkable. And it was no accident that they made it so far again this season. Seniors Kenny Quinn, Hosea Treadwell and Adam Jackson made up one of the finer backcourts in Iowa, and they were mainstays in the Hoover varsity for the better part of four seasons. Quinn started as a freshman, and was a defensive juggernaut for the defensively renowned program. Treadwell played great as a freshman before missing his sophomore season due to ACL injury. He came back to become one of the state’s most dangerous two-way threats. Jackson was the team’s leading scorer this season, he averaged a 18.2 points per game, second-best in the CIML.
Waukee Getting Great
It’s no secret that the once-small town, now-city on Waukee has erupted seen its population erupt over the past two decades, particularly this last decade. And, probably not coincidentally, the hoops program has enjoyed a great boom in success, too. Waukee has been a high school since 1916, and it didn’t make its first state appearance until 1982. Eight years later, in 1990, the Warriors went back to state, fast-forward 10 more years, in 2000, and Waukee was at state again. After they got their the first time in ’82, trips were few and far between. Then the boom happened. In 2008 the Warriors made it back, led by Gabe Knutson’s 19.3 points per game. Then they went back-to-back in 2011 and 2012. Trips in 2015, 2018 and now 2019 make three in the last five years. Things are really heating up in Waukee, after decades of not making the state tourney, then some intermittent trips, the Warriors have qualified in six of the last 11 years.
Without Hart
How Waukee was able to not only make the state tourney, but hardly lose a step this season without all-star point guard Noah Hart is probably the most impressive thing about their 2018-19 campaign so far. Hart had been having a marvelous senior season while leading the Warriors to an 11-0 record. He was already a Waukee legend coming into the season, and he spent his first 11 games before an ACL injury averaging 12.1 points on 60 percent shooting, 55 percent 3-point shooting, 5.4 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game. If Hart doesn’t get hurt, there’s a decent chance that Waukee is 22-0 and the favorites heading into the state tourney. As it is, they’re 20-2 and merely among the favorites.