State Tournament- Unsigned Seniors who Impressed
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Porter Fuegen, Easton Valley High School- Class 1A Though Easton Valley would only end up playing one game at the state tournament, they left everything on the floor. One of, if not, the biggest surprise to me when watching the…
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Continue ReadingPorter Fuegen, Easton Valley High School- Class 1A
Though Easton Valley would only end up playing one game at the state tournament, they left everything on the floor. One of, if not, the biggest surprise to me when watching the games at Wells Fargo was Porter Fuegen. In the first half of the game against Martensdale St. Mary’s, Fuegen looked like he couldn’t be stopped by the Blue Devil defense hitting 3’s off the catch, and getting to the rim pretty easily to finish the play. Fuegen impressed me with his composure with the ball, some grit on defense, and the way he didn’t seem phased by the big moment for the Riverhawks. He would finish the game with 15 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals, but most importantly he helped pushed the Riverhawks to the end.
Malik Allen Malik Allen 5'11" | PG Des Moines North | 2021 State IA , Waukee High School- Class 4A
There are a lot of known pieces around the state on the 4A Championship team in Waukee, and Malik Allen Malik Allen 5'11" | PG Des Moines North | 2021 State IA should be one of them because of his accomplishments before he went to Waukee. Last week at the state tournament I would say Allen staked a claim to being a one of the best 6th men in the state on the best team in the state. He had 13 points in the first two games at Wells Fargo combined, and in the championship put in 10 big points for the Warriors against a tough Johnston team with good perimeter defenders. All year Allen has been a change of pace for the Warriors and he continued that last week.
Marcus Kelderman Marcus Kelderman 6'1" | SG Boyden-Hull | 2021 State IA , Boyden Hull High School- Class 2A
The defending Class 2A champions did not repeat this year, but it was not from a lack of production from Kelderman. Kelderman would total 59 points over the 3 games at Wells Fargo with a game high 27 points in the quarterfinal game against South Central Calhoun. Kelderman was doing it all throughout the tournament scoring from three different levels, and finds a good portion of shots throughout the floor.
Owen Thomas Owen Thomas 6'4" | SF Aplington-Parkersburg | 2021 State IA , Aplington-Parkersburg- Class 2A
The Senior had a good two games in the state tournament, as he would have 8 points in the quarterfinal against Van Meter but had a really good game in the loss against Boyden Hull where he had a double-double 15 points and 10 rebounds. The 6’4 forward did well at finding open shots on the perimeter and ways to slash to the basket and convert on his attempts going 7/13 in two games for the Falcons. With the deep roster that Aplington-Parkersburg had this season, Thomas found good spots and ways to help the team even in ways that don’t show up in the box score.
Ryan Huston, Lake Mills High School- Class 1A
Probably the leading candidate for surprise player of the tournament regardless of class, Ryan Huston had the game of his life in the quarterfinal game against Montezuma. The Senior averaged 3.8 points per game all season and had never started a game until this season. In the game against the Braves Huston would go 7/9 from the field and 5/7 from the 3 point line, at times looking like the only player who could unlock the Montezuma defense. He also did a nice job when the Bulldogs would play man-to-man on Class 1A tournament MVP, Trey Shearer Trey Shearer 5'10" | PG Montezuma | 2021 State IA , making it difficult to score.
Mason Murphy Mason Murphy 5'9" | PG Ballard | 2021 State IA , Ballard High School- Class 3A
The Bombers starting point guard has been a pivotal player all year for his team leading the offense and initiating with his downhill style of play. Murphy is best when he is getting downhill and he did so well during the week at Wells Fargo, whether he was scoring or dishing passes off to the open man. Murphy’s points to assist ratio for all three games goes as follow; 14 points 9 assists, 7 points 8 assists, and 12 points 6 assists.