I-S boys edge Lourdes by two points
By Greg Seubert
A return trip to state was not in the cards for the Iola-Scandinavia boys’ basketball team.
The Thunderbirds’ season ended March 12 with a 65-63 win over Lourdes Academy in a WIAA Division 4 sectional semifinal at Kimberly High School.
The win would have set up a sectional final with Stratford, but that game was never played because the WIAA canceled the remainder of the boys’ and girls’ state tournaments due to concerns over the coronavirus.
The winner of that game would have advanced to the boys’ state championships, originally scheduled for Thursday to Saturday, March 19-21, at the Kohl Center in Madison.
Both teams scored 24 points in the first half. The T-Birds held the Knights’ leading scorer, Preston Ruedinger, to a pair of free throws in the first half, but he ended up leading all scorers with 20 points.
Iola-Scandinavia outscored Lourdes 41-39 in the second half.
The Knights had held the T-Birds’ leading scorer, Justin Sivertson, to five points in the first half, but he ended up leading four Iola-Scandinavia players in double figures with 18. Brye Hardel added 17, while Connor Kurki and Parker Prahl chipped in with 16 and 10, respectively.
The T-Birds finished the season with a 24-1 record, while the Knights finished 22-3.
