(Adel) AHSTW comes up short in a substate basketball final for a 2nd year in a row. A long offensive drought in the first half doomed the Vikings in a 47-36 loss on Saturday to DM Christian.
The 18-6 Lions return to the state tournament for the 3rd time in 5 seasons. Their aggressive defense hounded AHSTW early in the game. After Nick Denning and Kyle Sternberg hit a couple of 3-pointers the well ran dry for the 7th rated Vikings. A 16-0 DM Christian stretch turned their six point deficit into a ten point lead. AHSTW did score the final five points of the first half to close within 18-13, but they would never get any closer the rest of the night.
DM Christian started the 3rd quarter on an 8-0 run and led by as many as 13 points on a couple of different occasions. Nick Denning hit a reverse layup right before time expired in the 3rd quarter to give the Western Iowa Conference champs a slight hint of momentum, but a big comeback threat never fully materialized.
The Vikings made a little bit of noise late thanks to getting a 3-pointer to fall along with a Luke Sternberg putback to get within 41-36 with about 1:15 left, but DM Christian answered with a big triple from Carson Theis and slammed the door shut.
Tate Platte led the Lions with 18 points and Theis contributed 14. The West Central Activities conference representatives found some offensive rhythm with strong cuts to the basket and did a lot of their damage in close to the hoop. AHSTW got 12 points from Kyle Sternberg while Brayden Lund scored 8. AHSTW’s season ends at 21-3. It closes the incredible careers of a senior trio that re-wrote the record books. Brayden Lund topped 1,500 points, 100 3-pointers, 600 field goals, 200 free-throws, 625 rebounds, 150 assists, and 140 steals. Kyle Sternberg tallied 1,260 points and 150 3-pointers along with more than 525 rebounds, 230 assists, and 150 steals. Cole Scheffler goes out as the program’s all-time leader in both steals and assists. The past four year years for the Vikings produced a record of 81-13.
It’s been a remarkable ride for DM Christian. They were down by five points with less than :30 to play in their 55-54 district final win against Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont. Now they become the first team to hold AHSTW under 40 points since the 2018-19 season. Coach Jason Van Mersbergen’s team starts only one senior. They were just 10-6 at one point, but benefitted greatly from a non-conference schedule that included Dallas Center-Grimes, Winterset, and Pella Christian just to name a few. They will take an 8 game win streak into the program’s 9th state tournament appearance.
