(Waukee) A 74-53 victory against Harlan is sending Bondurant-Farrar to the state tournament for the 5th time in school history. The top ranked Bluejays stay undefeated and make the state tourney for the first time since 2006.
Harlan ends their year at 17-6. For head coach Mitch Osborn it was his 25th substate final in 39 years. The Cyclones played Bondurant-Farrar’s top three scorers man-to-man at the start while using Teagon Kasperbauer on the perimeter and Franz Reisz on the interior as help defenders. The Bluejays had the supporting cast step up and force the Cyclones consider plan ‘B’.
Everett White and Tanner Berggren each had a big first half for Bondurant-Farrar. White tallied nine points before the break while Berggren came off the bench with 8. The Bluejays hit six three’s in the first half from five different players.
Bondurant-Farrar built a double digit lead at 19-9 and held a 19-11 lead after one quarter. The early stages of the 2nd quarter brought Harlan’s best stretch. They were able to get the ball inside to Franz Reisz which opened up some scoring opportunities. Jacob Birch made the most of some open driving lanes and posted 12 of his 16 points in the 1st half.
The Cyclones scored nine straight points to close within 19-18, but Bondurant-Farrar called time out and responded in a big way. Coach Travis Evans commented, “We were taking quick shots on the defensive end and Harlan was junking it up like Coach Mitch Osborn does. I just said we need to get back to our game. We attacked the paint and scored on our next three possessions and just felt comfortable from there.”
Reed Pfaltzgraff, Colby Collison, and Jaxson Fried started to get involved and the Bluejays scored eight quick points to re-establish some breathing room. After the big Bondurant-Farrar response, Harlan was never closer than within seven points the rest of the night.
Bondurant-Farrar held a 38-26 halftime lead and scored the first five points of the 2nd half. They would outscore the Cyclones 16-9 in the 3rd, essentially putting the game out of reach with a 54-35 advantage.
The Bluejays led by as many as 31 points in the 4th quarter before both teams emptied the bench. Reed Pfaltzgraff posted 24 points including a 2nd half dunk. Colby Collison scored 17, Everett White 11 points, and Jaxson Fried had 9.
In addition to 16 points from Jacob Birch, Harlan had Jace Gubbels and Franz Reisz each score 9.
