#6 (2A) Aplington-Parkersburg will host Dike-New Hartford for a 2A District 7 semifinal boys basketball playoff game Thursday, which’ll air on 99 The Wave.
The Wolverines are coming off Monday’s 86-61 win at MFL MarMac in the first round to advance to the matchup. It was the second straight game in which they scored 80 or more points after averaging 52 points per game during the regular season. Head Coach Alex Tagtow says maintaining that offensive efficiency is crucial to postseason success.
“We’ve been able to be better on the defensive end really over the last few weeks,” Tagtow says. “We’ve really started to figure out that end of the floor and kind of understanding where we need to be and how that works for us to defend as a team and rebounds. We need to bring along the offense to kind of match that. We have games where we’re really efficient. We have games where we’re not efficient. We have games where we turn over a lot. So just being consistent on the offensive floor to go along with that kind of defensive identity we’ve been building is the thing we got to do if we want to make a run here.”
The top seed in the district, AP will begin the playoffs after a first round bye. Head Coach Aaron Thomas feels confident in the offense as long as the team takes care of the little things.
“It starts with defending and rebounding,” Thomas says. “And if we do that, even if we don’t shoot it well, we’ll give ourselves a chance. The chances of all of our guys being off the same night, I think, are pretty slim. The way our two post guys are playing right now, obviously Benny, Tyler, Wes, the way they’ve shot it. And we have enough guys where we can score. It comes down to will we guard? Can we take care of the ball? And will we rebound?”
AP swept the regular season series. Pregame coverage will start at 6:45 p.m., followed by the tipoff at 7:00. The winner will advance to a district final against either Waukon or Crestwood.
