Western Christian boys basketball wins Class 2A state championship, defeats West Lyon
No. 1 seed and reigning state champion Western Christian trailed No. 2 West Lyon by five points with 6:38 remaining in Friday's Class 2A state boys basketball tournament final.
The night before, the coaches held a devotion with the players on a Bible verse. The topic? Resiliency.
The Wolfpack rallied from that deficit to beat the Wildcats 46-42 at Wells Fargo Arena, securing back-to-back titles for the program and its 12th state title all-time in boys basketball.
It was a resilient team effort from Western Christian. Seven of the Wolfpack's eight players in the rotation scored points, with 15 points and six rebounds from junior forward Landon De Stigter and 11 points from senior guard Kaden Van Regenmorter leading the way. Senior forward Karsten Moret also had nine rebounds in the winning effort.
Scoring just 46 points was an outlier for a team that scored less than 50 points only once all season. Usually relying on high-octane offense, the team leaned on its defense to grit out a victory.
Things got off to a slow start, with teams combining for a 0-for-7 from the field and six turnovers before the scoreless tie was broken by De Stigter's layup. Western Christian led 7-4 after the first eight minutes of play, with the Wolfpack's defense holding the Wildcats to one made basket.
Things began to heat up in the second, with more points scored in the first three minutes of the second quarter (12) than the 11 posted in the first quarter between the two teams. West Lyon led by four with 2:11 to go in the half, but Western Christian closed on a 7-0 run to take a 23-20 lead into the locker room.
Behind a strong team effort, West Lyon took a 36-35 lead into the fourth quarter. Five different players scored baskets for the Wildcats, including a floater in front of the basket near the buzzer from junior Jared Ciesielski to take an advantage into the final eight minutes of regulation.
Down by five with 6:38 to go, De Stigter tied it at 40 with a three-point basket with 5:41 to go. A jumper from Van Regenmorter put Western Christian up two with 2:07 to go, and the Wolfpack held on for a four-point victory.
West Lyon was looking for its first state title since 2014 and was minutes away from doing so. The team finished 23-4 after reaching the state tournament for the third time in program history.
Western Christian finished 25-3, losing only once to an in-state opponent (Waukee).
"Going back-to-back is super hard," Van Regenmorter said. "Last year, we almost win the game by 20. It wasn't easy, but we made it look easy. This year at the state tournament was completely different for us. Last round against Grand View (Christian) and this round against West Lyon, we just didn't play to our best, but we were resilient through it all.
Eli McKown covers high school sports and wrestling for the Des Moines Register. Contact him at Emckown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @EMcKown23.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Western Christian wins back-to-back Iowa boys basketball state titles
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