(Elk Horn, IA) – Defense has been the key factor to the postseason run for the Exira-EHK Spartans as they held their lead all night to advance past Riverside last Thursday 75-64. Despite giving up 28 points in the third quarter, the Spartans held the Bulldogs to a lower-scoring effort throughout the other three quarters of the game, including Grady Jeppesen. The defense from Aiden Flathers was key in keeping Jeppesen below his average as he had to fight to earn 21 points to finish off his high school career.
The Spartans are led in scoring by Cash Emgarten with 18 points and 6.3 boards per game followed by Aiden Flathers with 13.3 points and a team-leading five assists per game while shooting above 48% from the field. Josh Nelson, who is coming off a season-high 28 points against Riverside, is averaging 11.7 points and a team-high 7.4 rebounds per game. Last but not least is Jackson Radcliff with 10.3 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. While these are the team leaders, it takes everybody on this Spartans team to continue this postseason run.
With the success this season, the Spartan motto has been just taking one game at a time. Exira-EHK is going into the game knowing that it is the Spartans versus everybody else and is going to continue to push that tempo on Tuesday night.
Exira-EHK will be taking on Woodbine for the third time this season and the sixth time in the last two years. These two teams have started to become rivals as of late and the Spartans are looking to claim the title this season over the Tigers. Woodbine is led by Carter Gruver averaging 20.1 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game while Jax Pryor is second in scoring with 10.3 points and first in rebounds with 6.2 boards per game.
On Tuesday, both teams will be traveling to Harlan to play at a neutral site at Harlan High School with the opening tipoff at 7:00 p.m. KSOM 96.5 will have the live broadcast for you at Harlan with Zach Collins and Austin West on the call with the pregame show starting at 6:40 p.m.
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