(Truro) Nodaway Valley avenged a regular season loss to Central Decatur on Thursday with a 57-39 win at Interstate-35 High School in the Class 1A District 10 title game. The Wolverines advance to face #7 Montezuma in a Substate Final at Knoxville on Saturday. We’ll have the game on KSOM with pregame starting at 6:45 p.m.
Nodaway Valley led from start to finish in Thursday’s rematch with Central Decatur. In fact, the game was rarely closer than five points after the Wolverines lit it up from three-point range in the early going. They hit four three’s in the first quarter and knocked in another early in the 2nd.
Central Decatur bit into Nodaway Valley’s 18-9 lead at the end of the first quarter with six first half points each from Cole Pedersen and Trey Hullinger, but the closest they ever got was within three at 25-22. A Mason Menefee put back and a Toby Bower 3-pointer quickly stretched the Wolverine lead back to eight points. Bower added another hit behind the arc with less than ten seconds left in the first half to push the advantage to double figures at the break, 33-22.
The third quarter featured just nine total points. Central Decatur only managed one field goal in the third, a Kolby Hewlett 3-pointer. Nodaway Valley took a 38-26 lead into the 4th and had little trouble putting the game away. Central Decatur was held to just 12 points in the 2nd half against a Nodaway Valley defense that is allowing only just 35.3 points per game in their three postseason wins.
Nodaway Valley shot 20/36 (55.5%) from the field. Bower led the scoring with 18 points and Menefee had 14. Ty Vandewater notched 10 points with Clay Hohertz scoring seven. Hohertz passing ability out of the high post against Central Decatur’s 2-3 zone led to several good looks for teammates. Hohertz had 9 rebounds and 6 assists. Avery Phillippi provided several good minutes off the bench in the 2nd half and scored six points on the night. He secured three offensive boards and three steals. Josh Baudler had two points before leaving the game with an ankle injury. He tried to return later in the contest, but was unable to stay in. Nodaway Valley goes to 17-6 on the season. They are one win away from their 7th state tournament appearance. Their last state bid came in 2015.
Central Decatur ends the year at 16-7. Pedersen scored 10 points and Trey Hullinger finished with 9.
