A-P upended in substate final

DIKE – Opportunity slipped out of Aplington-Parkersburg’s grasp on Saturday night.

The Falcon boys basketball squad couldn’t shake a seasoned Monticello team getting hot at the perfect time, and A-P’s season came to an end in a 56-53 Panther triumph at Dike-New Hartford High School in a Class 2A substate final.

Monticello returns to the state tournament next week for the fourth season in a row, while third-ranked A-P bows out with a final record of 21-3, ending its season in the substate final in back-to-back years.

Garrett Hempen scored 18 points to lead A-P in his final game as a Falcon. Gavin Thomas added 14 points and Will Hodges had eight points and five assists.

“I feel for our seniors,” A-P head coach Aaron Thomas said. “Garrett’s a four-year starter for us and we added Martez [Wiggley] this year, but guys like Adam Schipper, Will Steege, Jack Eddy, Kye Rottinghaus, they stuck with our program and made us better in practice. … They deserve to be in Des Moines and I wish we could have gotten that done for them.”

A-P’s 11-0 second-quarter run was the most dramatic shift from either side in Saturday’s game. It pushed the Falcons to a 28-19 lead and eventually led to a 30-23 halftime lead.

But in retrospect, with several Monticello players saddled with at least two fouls at that point, it was the first of several missed opportunities for A-P, Thomas said.

“We needed to expand that lead, we had some possessions that we gave away there,” Thomas said.

Mere moments into the third quarter Monticello had seized the momentum back with a trio of three-pointers from a sharpshooting Panther squad that leads 2A with 9.6 treys made per game.

The teams traded runs throughout the rest of the second half. As it turned out, Monticello junior Preston Ries would sink the eventual-go-ahead free throws with about 90 seconds left in the game for a 53-51 lead.

A-P had a point-blank opportunity on their next trip down that was too strong, rolling off the front of the rim.

The Panthers’ next possession was a chance for Ries to strike again, and after sufficient time had been peeled off the shot clock, he plunged a dagger of a 3-pointer.

Gavin Thomas quickly responded for A-P to get back within three with 40 seconds left.

And even though Monticello didn’t help themselves with back-to-back missed free throws on their next two possessions, A-P couldn’t make the Panthers pay with a turnover and a missed 3-pointer leaner allowing Monticello to finally dribble out the win.

Monticello head coach Tim Lambert said he believed in Ries and Tate Petersen, his two returning all-staters, to deliver the Panthers to victory.

“Preston was hesitant to shoot it and I just told Preston, ‘I believe in you and I love you,’” Lambert said. “And he made some massive shots late.”

Ries finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds; Jack Lambert and Tate Petersen had 11 each.

“We were rolling the dice against a good shooting team,” Thomas said. “With Ries you’ve got to give a little to get a little and credit to them, they had guys that made some shots.”

Monticello was a preseason top-ranked team that stumbled enough, between losses and injuries, to fall under the radar heading into the postseason.

“We had lost some games earlier this season otherwise we wouldn’t have been playing these guys here, we’d be playing them in Des Moines,” Lambert said. “We’ve had some major injuries over here; Tate missed some games. … Three weeks ago, I think people really counted us out. We just rallied the troops and the boys are just winners.”

Rottinghaus was among the other seniors that stepped up on Saturday, having to put in extended time when Martez Wiggley got into foul trouble early in the first and second half.

“He’s put in a lot of extra time in the gym, and that’s what it takes,” Thomas said. “He made himself a player doing all those little things that matter, and not just between November and March.”

Gavin Thomas will be part of the returning group next year that hopes to get over the hump but will miss working with this senior group.

“We battled hard in practice, we’d just go at each other,” Gavin said. “And then afterwards it’s no hard feelings, everyone stayed together and we’d all get together after home games on the weekend and play some Texas Hold’em at someone’s house. It was a great time.

“I hope our younger guys can stay hungry and put in time in the offseason, now we know what this feels like. If we put in the effort in the offseason, we can turn it around.”