The Final Four of the Southeast Iowa Superconference Boys Shootout saw both South teams take wins Saturday at Burlington Notre Dame High School. In the title bout, the No. 3 in Class 1A Nikes defended their home floor with an 86-58 win over Hillcrest Academy. Notre Dame started the game with an 8-1 run and the Ravens answered with 10 straight to take a brief two point lead. The Nikes were up 37-31 at half and used an 18-2 third quarter run to take control of the contest, leading 57-39 going to the fourth. Following the contest, Hillcrest head coach Stephen Bender broke down the game. “They’re a great team. For us to come back and get back in the game, our guys did a good job of executing on offense and getting stops on defense. (In Notre Dame’s second half run), they had a lot of easy layups, I think it was 18-2 to start the half and all of them were layups. Against a good team like that you give them layups, you’re not going to have a chance. Unfortunately, that’s what happened. I’m glad to see Lincoln (Miller)’s shot go down. He’s a good shooter for us, has made the most threes this year and is coming off a couple of games where he struggled. Our guys should realize that we can play with the best teams in the state because we were right there with them back and forth in the first half.”

The Ravens lost turnovers 17-11 and rebounding by 11. The Nikes put four in double figures led by 24 points for Eli Oleson, 18 for Shay Stephens, 12 for LJ Harris and 11 for Griffin Kies. The Ravens got a team high 15 points from Lincoln Miller, 13 from Rowan Miller and 12 for Gibson Scott. Hillcrest dropped to 17-3 with the loss while Notre Dame improves to 20-1.

In the runner-up contest a Winfield-Mt. Union comeback fell short 53-48. The Wolves led 10-8 after the first quarter, but a 15-4 Mediapolis run had them in front 23-14 at half. A 23-11 third quarter saw MEPO extend the advantage to 21 going to the fourth. WMU put together a 14-3 surge to start the fourth and cut the lead all the way down to four before the Bulldogs held on for the win. Following the loss, head coach Klay Edwards talked with KCII Sports about what he saw. “Our trapping zone, pressure defense, turned them over and forced them into some bad shots. That allowed us to get out and run and not have to play against their half court defense. If we take care of the ball, it’s probably a different game. You have to credit them. They played good defense. I’m proud of the way our guys fought in the fourth quarter.”

The Bulldogs won the glass by nine and turnovers 16-11. Max Griffin had 23 points to lead MEPO, Will Luttenegger added 14. Isaac Egli led the Wolves with 14 points, all in the fourth quarter, Max Edwards added 10. With the loss, WMU is now 13-6 as Mediapolis climbs to 14-6.