DES MOINES — Ladies and gentlemen, here’s your overwhelming favorite for the Class 2A state basketball championship in 2011. If it’s fair to look a year ahead.
The Western Christian Wolfpack pocketed their sixth title last night, preventing Solon from a 2A repeat with a 58-45 victory at Wells Fargo Arena.
The almost overwhelming thing about this WC team is that there was one senior of any significance. Of course, point guard Bryce Groeneweg was the all-tournament captain, so he’ll be missed.
But everyone else is back, and that includes a lot of …

Sportswriter Jeff Linder will provide live coverage of tonight’s Class 3A state championship game between Solon (25-2) and Hull Western Christian (24-3).
Tipoff is scheduled for 8:05 p.m. Follow the live coverage below.
Solon vs. Hull Western Christian: Class 3A basketball final

DES MOINES — Maybe this will turn out to be another Willis Reed deal.
For those of you not initiated with the legendary NBA tale, Reed spurred the New York Knicks to victory in Game 7 of the 1970 finals despite a torn muscle in his thigh that kept him out of Game 6.
It’s a back injury, specifically a stress fracture of the fifth lumbar vertebrae, that has afflicted Western Christian leading scorer Tyler Wolterstorff at the worst possible time. The Wolves play Solon in tonight’s Class 2A state tournament championship …

DES MOINES — Their top six players from last season graduated. So did 90 percent of their scoring.
But these are the Solon Spartans, and all they do in most sports is win, baby.
“There were a lot of doubters who thought we’d only finish about halfway up our conference,” Tanner Wentzien said after his team out-defensed IKM-Manning, 42-34, in a Class 2A state tournament semifinal Thursday afternoon at Wells Fargo Arena. “But we won our conference, and now we’re playing for a state title.”
The Spartans (25-2) go for two 2A titles …

Sportswriter Jeff Johnson will provide live coverage of today’s Class 2A semifinal game between Solon (24-2) and IKM-Manning (25-0).
Tipoff is set for 3:45 p.m. Check out the live blog below.
Solon vs. IKM-Manning — Class 2A semifinal

DES MOINES — Same game. Different winner.
Longtime former Eastern Iowa Hawkeye Conference rivals Solon and Mid-Prairie played a duplicate of their regular-season encounter Tuesday afternoon at the boys’ state basketball tournament. This time it was Solon building a big lead and holding on to win a Class 2A quarterfinal, 50-46.
Mid-Prairie won the December meeting in almost identical fashion, 55-52. Deja vu all over again, as they say.
“Yep. Exact same plot,” said Mid-Prairie guard Michael Aldeman. “Just switched.”
Solon (24-2) plays IKM-Manning (25-0) in a 3:45 p.m. Thursday semifinal, and the defending …

THE TEAMS
Team (W-L) Apps Titles
Carroll Kuemper (15-11) 12 1
Des Moines Christian (26-0) 5 0
IKM-Manning (24-0) 1 0
Mid-Prairie (19-5) 7 0
Solon (23-2) 5 1
Turkey Valley (19-6) 1 0
Wapsie Valley (20-5) 7 0
Western Christian (22-3) 16 5
SCORING LEADERS Avg.
Branden Stubbs (DMC) 25.8
Tyler Wolterstorff (WC) 19.3
Tanner Miller (M-P) 18.7
Zach Schmidt (WV) 14.9
Tanner Wentzien (Solon) 13.0
Michael Aldeman (M-P) 12.9
Jared Croghan (IKM) 12.8
Ryan Blumer (DMC) 12.3
Bryce Berg (CK) 12.0
Taylor Sickles (WV) 11.5
REBOUNDING LEADERS Avg.
Zach Schmidt (WV) 9.6
Mitch Balik (TV) 7.8
Dilan Moss (WC) 7.2
Colin Ritzman (WV) 7.0
Jarad Gaskill (IKM) 7.0
PREDICTIONS
Quarterfinals
Des Moines Christian 70, Carroll Kuemper 51
Western …

How about that?
Mid-Prairie ended Solon’s 33-game boys’ basketball win streak via a 55-52 upset win Dec. 22 at Solon. Now the longtime rivals meet again … this time in the quarterfinals of the state tournament.
Mid-Prairie (19-5) is the sixth seed in Class 2A and will play third-seeded Solon (23-2) in a 1:45 p.m. quarterfinal Tuesday, March 9 at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.
The defending 2A champion, Solon surprised a lot of people with a 61-32 blowouts of Danville (22-2) in a substate final Saturday night at Bettendorf. The Spartans …

Here’s a look at the four boys’ basketball games Saturday involving area schools. All games begin at 7 p.m.
CLASS 1A
Central City (13-11) vs. Calamus-Wheatland (19-5) at Clinton: Central City has been hurt by injuries to starters Jacob Etten and Mason Nielsen. Both are back in the lineup, which helped the Wildcats post district wins over Springville (42-40), Lone Tree (65-52) and Lisbon (63-46). Center John Rochford leads CC in scoring (15.2 ppg) and rebounding (11.3 rpg). Point guard Jeffrey Stevens averages 12.3 ppg … Calamus-Wheatland posted a big upset of …

Marion’s Mike Manderscheid and Solon’s Brad Randall were conference coaches of the year in their respective divisions. Their teams shared the overall Wamac title.
Here are the complete teams:
2009-10 Wamac Boys Basketball