(Des Moines, IA) — Kuemper Catholic will face off with Union Community out of LaPorte City, IA in the first round of the Class 2A boys state basketball tournament on Wednesday morning.
The Knights have not won a state title in boys basketball since 1985 and were last in the tournament in 2023. Kuemper lost to the Union Knights 77-66 in the Substate final last year — Head Coach Sean Minnehan believes his team has grown up a ton since that defeat
The Kuemper Knights are led by Senior Ryan Clair at 16.7 ppg, Junior Griffin Glynn at 15.8 ppg, and Junior Dylan Schon at 13.8 ppg. Minnehan had hoped to have Brock Badding all year who averages around 20 points a game but they have to play without him and they have missed others because of injuries
Kuemper is 22-3 while Union is also 22-3 — the Union Knights are led by Senior Caden Sorensen who averages 16.1 ppg including shooting 42 percent from on his threes (55 of 130)plus Senior Tate Van Dyke and Senior Cameron Mullen both average 12.7 ppg. The game could be a high scoring one — Union averages 70.4 points while Kuemper averages 76.8 points a game. Minnehan believes they can run with them and they must take advantage of their strong size in the paint
Kuemper faces off with Union in the Class 2A first round, tip off at 10:30 at the Casey’s Center
Complete Interview with Kuemper Head Coach Sean Minnehan
