(Des Moines) Coming up on KSOM at 11:15 a.m. on Tuesday it’s a Class 3A Boys State Basketball quarterfinal between Harlan and Norwalk.
#1 Norwalk is led by one of the state’s all-time best scorers. Bowen Born is 6th on Iowa’s career scoring chart, and his 900 points this season are among the top five single season totals ever. Harlan coach Mitch Osborn, “He’s the best in the state if not the Midwest. UNI is getting a tremendous, tremendous player to add to their program and it’s going to be a great fit. I think he’s a Power 5 guy. He’s probably underrated by some of the colleges because they look at his size, but my goodness he can dunk, he can shoot it, he can pull up, he’s got mid-range, he can go to the rack.”
Harlan coach Mitch Osborn says Born isn’t the only weapon for the Warriors. Tyler Johnson averages 14.7 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. Johnson shoots 46% from the three point line where he’s connected on 80 of his attempts this year. Born’s scoring average is 37.5 points per game and he leads the state in three-pointers made and free-throws made.
Osborn categorizes the defending state runner-up as a very good defensive team as well. It’s worth noting that coach Mitch Osborn is 16-2 in his career in the first round at state including a perfect 10-0 at Harlan. “We’re going to accept the challenge and the nice thing about it is we had four days to prepare. So that helps in that aspect. It’s going to be very tough, but our kids are going to go after it. I’ve told them they can’t be satisfied. Too many teams go down there and are just happy to be there. That’s what we have to try and avoid. They might take us pretty good, but we are going to compete hard and be ready.”
Harlan has pulled an 8 vs 1 upset in the past. They knocked out an undefeated Vinton-Shellsburg team in the 1st round in 2013 on their way to a state runner-up finish.
