The Scoring Kings: Class 4A
*based on regular season scoring leaders 1. Tyreke Locure (Des Moines North) — 30.7 The future South Alabama Jaguar has been one of the best scorers in the state for nearly his entire career at Des Moines North, and…
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Continue Reading*based on regular season scoring leaders
1. Tyreke Locure (Des Moines North) — 30.7
The future South Alabama Jaguar has been one of the best scorers in the state for nearly his entire career at Des Moines North, and he’s been seeing his name climb up all-time scoring charts as a result. He’s currently the second-leading Iowa scorer in Class 4A history, recently passing Jeff Horner. He’s not too far behind current Iowa Hawkeyes wing Joe Wieskamp; if North can make a deep run into the post-season, Locure might get that top spot. The maximum amount of games left for the Polar Bears could play is five, if they can manage that and Locure gets 29.8 points per game throughout, he’ll have the all-time 4A scoring mark.
2. Evan Gauger (Indianola) — 27.1
Gauger had as much of a breakout season as anyone in the 2019 class. That’s not to say he wasn’t already a bona-fide star coming into his senior year, but he’s taken his game to new heights — both figuratively and literally — this season, and it was spellbinding. He’s going to carry his newfound momentum into a career at Northern Iowa, we think he could surprise some people when he gets there.
3. Patrick McCaffery (Iowa City West) — 25.6
The recently crowned all-time scoring champ at Iowa City West, McCaffery passed up Trojan great and former Iowa Hawkeyes wing Glen Worley earlier this month to achieve the feat. And that’s saying something when you consider that the Trojans have one of the more rich basketball traditions in the state.
4. DJ Carton (Bettendorf) — 24.2
Carton is the top-ranked prospect in the 2019 class, which is especially noteworthy because that’s the strongest class to come out of Iowa in recent history. His handles and explosiveness are what make him dominant, and his jumper has been working for him, too. The fans in Des Moines would be treated if he can will his Bulldogs to a state tourney berth.
5. Aidan Vanderloo (Sioux City East) — 23.7
Another guy who broke the all-time scoring mark at one of the state’s more storied basketball schools. Vanderloo achieved the feat a week ago against Carroll. He now has 1,435 points, and surpassed former Iowa Hawkeye 7-footer Adam Woodbury to top the chart. An elite shooter and passer with a supremely high hoops IQ, Vanderloo has has a tremendous career.
6. Tyrese Nickelson (Waterloo East) — 23.4
The quick 6-foot guard has overcome trauma and adversity in his high school career to become one of the best players in the state. He was excellent while playing on the adidias Gauntlet with the Iowa Barnstormers 17U last spring and summer, and it’s no surprise that he carried that momentum into his senior season with Waterloo East.
7. Noah Carter (Dubuque, Senior) — 22.2
As Dubuque, Senior continues to methodically breeze its way through the schedule (sans a bizzarre late-season loss to IC Liberty), Carter, an ultra-athletic 6’4 forward, continues to obliterate the competition. Before the season started, we picked the Rams to bring home a 4A state title. Now, heading into the postseason push, we’d put them up against anyone in the state and feel confident. Mostly, because of Noah Carter.
8. Cliff McCray (Sioux City West) — 21.0
Here’s a guy who had one of the more memorable seasons in Class 4A that we can remember. It wasn’t the scoring that was the most impressive part of his season, the 6-foot-2 point guard is without question the best rebounding guard in Iowa, he led 4A with 9.5 boards per game. If that wasn’t enough, he also dished out a state-best 7.8 assists per game.
9. Keegan Murray (Cedar Rapids Prairie) — 20.5
The scoring is great, and the efficiency makes it better. Murray, a lengthy 6’6 shooting guard, came painstakingly close to finishing the regular season with the rare 50-40-90 shooting clip. That’s 50 percent from the floor, 40 percent from deep and 90 percent from the line. Murray is unequivocally one of the very best shooters around.
10. Trey Hutcheson (Linn-Mar) — 19.9
A future Albany Great Dane, Hutcheson has been a mainstay in the Class of 2019 elite hoopers conversation for a few years now. He’s known for his shooting, but he also averaged 6.4 rebounds per game and leads the No. 10 Lions in blocked shots. Hutcheson and Co. will play Waterloo East tonight in a Substate semifinal.