The #6 (2A) Aplington-Parkersburg boys basketball team faced a tight battle, but prevailed 75-68 over Crestwood in Tuesday’s 2A District 7 Final, as aired on 99 The Wave.
The teams battled through numerous lead changes throughout the first three quarters. The Cadets hit a buzzer-beater to end the first quarter with a 15-14 lead, but the Falcons responded. Late in the first half, Crestwood scored 10 straight to lead by eight, but the Falcons cut it to 32-30 at halftime. Trailing 47-43 entering the fourth quarter, the Falcons needed stops. They locked down on defense, and Trevan Thomas hit three straight three-pointers to pull away.
AP led by as many as 11 before the Cadets closed the gap with little time remaining.
“It was a close game, and so easy right then and there to just, as Coach Thomas says, spit the bit and give up,” senior Benny Waller says. “But our toughness prevailed, and we really saw that tonight and just never hung our head. Our shots were not falling at all, really, those first three quarters. I think to start the fourth quarter, I got a layup and then an and one. Then it was kind of just over from there. We got our crowd into it. Everyone was in it. It was just a great atmosphere and a great win.”
Head Coach Aaron Thomas on bouncing back in the fourth quarter.
“We never got completely rattled,” Thomas says. “We had things not going well. We might have rushed a couple shots at times, but we got to the fourth quarter and we really guarded and we rebounded. The first half, I thought our biggest problem was we gave up too many offensive rebounds. We turned them over 12 times. We only had one. But we can’t give up second shots. We knew that going in. We just weren’t quite physical enough, especially with the #11 post. And I thought our second half, our kids really dialed it in defensively and got defensive rebounds. On the flip side, we had some key shots when we needed. I thought we picked up the pace, we got some run out layups off some steals, Trevan hit some timely threes, and then we were pretty good from the line late.”
Waller led with 26 points, Thomas had 13 and Cole Brouwer scored 12.
AP has advanced to Saturday’s substate final, where they’ll take on Cascade in the McLeod Center. The winner will advance to the Class 2A state tournament.
