NU High denies George-Little Rock 1A title
By Terry Hersom Journal sports editor | Posted: Saturday, March 08, 2008
George-Little Rock's Alex Hopp wipes his eyes after the team lost to NU High in action of the Class 1A Iowa Boys State Basketball Tournament championship game Friday at Wells Fargo ARean in Des Moines. (Staff photo by Tim Hynds)
DES MOINES -- Even against a school that wrote one of the best Cinderella stories in state tournament history, Northern University High of Cedar Falls played the underdog card to the hilt.
Taking the lead on an NBA-range three-pointer with 2:11 to play, NU High denied George-Little Rock its second state title in three years, winning a dramatic 49-44 Class 1A state title game Friday night at Wells Fargo Arena.
George-Little Rock's Mack Vande Kamp scored a game-high 21 points, hitting five three-pointers, but the Mustangs fell short in an attempt to add a championship to the one they won in 2006 as the No. 8 seed.
Travis Ellerbroek, who scored a team-leading 15 points, hit the pivotal bomb for the Panthers of Coach Paul Elser, a Northwest Iowa native. The gutsy shot sent NU High in front to stay at 44-42.
Then, in the final minute, clutch free throws made the lead stand up.
"Four times in a row, the substate and all three games down here, we've been the underdog,'' said Ellerbroek, a 6-4 senior who was named to the all-tournament team along with his twin brother, Nick. "We've been playing some amazing basketball.''
NU High, 20-8, won the battle of unranked finalists with a strong defensive effort after George-Little Rock's Vande Kamp snapped a 27-27 halftime tie with two straight three-pointers to open the third quarter.
G-LR was quickly in front 33-27, the widest margin either team would enjoy the entire game.
"I'm sure no one thought we could win after that,'' said Travis Ellerbroek.
Elser, though, called a time-out to get his team back on track defensively.
"The discussion for us was they weren't going to score again,'' said Elser, coaching a championship team 20 years after starring on the only state tournament squad ever for Harris-Lake Park (1988). "I have a feeling that changed the game for us.''
"Again,''of course'' probably wasn't meant literally. Nonetheless, George-Little Rock did not, in fact, score again in 10 subsequent third-quarter possessions, missing five shots and turning it over five times.
Fortunately, the G-LR defense limited NU High to just two field goals in all that time, leaving the Mustangs still on top 33-31 as the final quarter began.
Five lead changes would follow, the last on the big three from Travis Ellerbroek.
"All we wanted all week was just the chance to win,'' said G-LR Coach Ben Gerleman. "We had that chance. They had a couple kids make plays, is all. (Travis Ellerbroek) is standing out there 24 feet with a guy right there and he just made it.''
Equally crucial was 6-4 sophomore reserve Eddie Diemer, whose 18-for-34 free throw shooting (.530), made him G-LR's top choice to foul in the game's final minute.
Fouled with 58 seconds left and his team clinging to a 54-52 lead, Diemer made both ends of a one-and-one to make it a two-possession advantage at 46-42.
George-Little Rock's Trev Fiedler, the only holdover starter from the 2006 state champs, scored with 47 seconds left, finishing off an 11-point night. But the Mustangs' two remaining chances were both a pair of well-defended threes from Vande Kamp.
Fiedler, the hero of G-LR's overtime semifinal thriller over Siouxland Conference rival Boyden-Hull, was named to the all-tournament team along with 6-4 junior forward Tyler Starr, who had eight points and nine rebounds in this one. Vande Kamp was actually the Mustangs' top scorer for the week, totaling 44 points while Fiedler netted 40 and Starr 29.
G-LR's Starr and Wes Peters, a 6-3 senior, each finished the week with 22 rebounds, one shy of Nick Ellerbroek's tourney-leading total.
The title for NU High capped a storybook first season at the helm for Elser, who played three years at Northwestern College, also Gerleman's alma mater. Elser finished college at Northern Iowa, where he met his wife, Caroline, the daughter of UNI (and former Ohio State) basketball coach Eldon Miller.
The couple student taught overseas and wound up literally seeing the world the last 11 years, teaching three years in Cairo, Egypt, five in Saudi Arabia, and three in Indonesia before moving back to Cedar Falls.
George-Little Rock, winding up 21-7, earned a runner-up trophy with the semifinal cliffhanger over Boyden-Hull and also a 46-34 opening round win over Burlington Notre Dame.
NU High's road to the title started with a 58-38 rout of No. 2-ranked Bedford and included another impressive win in the semifinals, when the Panthers cruised 70-51 over No. 5 Victor HLV, leading by as many as 29 points.
NU High (49)
Min FG-A FT-A RB A PF TP
Ben Peterson 17 0 4 0 0 2 0 1 0
Nick Ellerbroek 32 2 8 4 7 7 0 3 8
Travis Ellerbroek 31 5 6 2 3 4 1 2 15
Brad Denning 26 3 9 0 0 0 1 2 7
Jay Miller 13 1 5 1 1 1 0 2 3
Joseph McKenna 21 3 6 0 0 3 0 1 7
Eddie Diemer 19 3 5 3 4 3 1 1 9
Kyle Denning 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Team 5
Totals 160 17 43 10 15 25 3 12 49
George-Little Rock (44)
Min FG-A FT-A RB A PF TP
Mack Vande Kamp 32 7 16 2 2 0 0 2 21
Alex Hopp 27 0 4 0 0 2 1 3 0
Tyler Starr 31 2 7 4 4 9 1 3 8
Trev Fiedler 32 4 5 3 6 5 3 0 11
Wes Peters 25 2 3 0 0 7 2 4 4
Jason Rypkema 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ethan Dirks 9 0 1 0 0 2 0 1 0
Joel Tiedeman 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0
Team 1
Totals 160 15 36 9 12 27 7 14 44
Score by halves:
NU High 15 12 4 18 49
George-Little Rock 15 12 6 11 44
3-point shots NU High 5-18 (T. Ellerbroek 3-4, McKenna 1-4, Denning 1-3, Peterson 0-4, Miller 0-2, N. Ellerbroek 0-1), George-Little Rock 5-13 (Vande Kamp 5-11, Hopp 0-2).
Taking the lead on an NBA-range three-pointer with 2:11 to play, NU High denied George-Little Rock its second state title in three years, winning a dramatic 49-44 Class 1A state title game Friday night at Wells Fargo Arena.
George-Little Rock's Mack Vande Kamp scored a game-high 21 points, hitting five three-pointers, but the Mustangs fell short in an attempt to add a championship to the one they won in 2006 as the No. 8 seed.
Travis Ellerbroek, who scored a team-leading 15 points, hit the pivotal bomb for the Panthers of Coach Paul Elser, a Northwest Iowa native. The gutsy shot sent NU High in front to stay at 44-42.
Then, in the final minute, clutch free throws made the lead stand up.
"Four times in a row, the substate and all three games down here, we've been the underdog,'' said Ellerbroek, a 6-4 senior who was named to the all-tournament team along with his twin brother, Nick. "We've been playing some amazing basketball.''
NU High, 20-8, won the battle of unranked finalists with a strong defensive effort after George-Little Rock's Vande Kamp snapped a 27-27 halftime tie with two straight three-pointers to open the third quarter.
G-LR was quickly in front 33-27, the widest margin either team would enjoy the entire game.
"I'm sure no one thought we could win after that,'' said Travis Ellerbroek.
Elser, though, called a time-out to get his team back on track defensively.
"The discussion for us was they weren't going to score again,'' said Elser, coaching a championship team 20 years after starring on the only state tournament squad ever for Harris-Lake Park (1988). "I have a feeling that changed the game for us.''
"Again,''of course'' probably wasn't meant literally. Nonetheless, George-Little Rock did not, in fact, score again in 10 subsequent third-quarter possessions, missing five shots and turning it over five times.
Fortunately, the G-LR defense limited NU High to just two field goals in all that time, leaving the Mustangs still on top 33-31 as the final quarter began.
Five lead changes would follow, the last on the big three from Travis Ellerbroek.
"All we wanted all week was just the chance to win,'' said G-LR Coach Ben Gerleman. "We had that chance. They had a couple kids make plays, is all. (Travis Ellerbroek) is standing out there 24 feet with a guy right there and he just made it.''
Equally crucial was 6-4 sophomore reserve Eddie Diemer, whose 18-for-34 free throw shooting (.530), made him G-LR's top choice to foul in the game's final minute.
Fouled with 58 seconds left and his team clinging to a 54-52 lead, Diemer made both ends of a one-and-one to make it a two-possession advantage at 46-42.
George-Little Rock's Trev Fiedler, the only holdover starter from the 2006 state champs, scored with 47 seconds left, finishing off an 11-point night. But the Mustangs' two remaining chances were both a pair of well-defended threes from Vande Kamp.
Fiedler, the hero of G-LR's overtime semifinal thriller over Siouxland Conference rival Boyden-Hull, was named to the all-tournament team along with 6-4 junior forward Tyler Starr, who had eight points and nine rebounds in this one. Vande Kamp was actually the Mustangs' top scorer for the week, totaling 44 points while Fiedler netted 40 and Starr 29.
G-LR's Starr and Wes Peters, a 6-3 senior, each finished the week with 22 rebounds, one shy of Nick Ellerbroek's tourney-leading total.
The title for NU High capped a storybook first season at the helm for Elser, who played three years at Northwestern College, also Gerleman's alma mater. Elser finished college at Northern Iowa, where he met his wife, Caroline, the daughter of UNI (and former Ohio State) basketball coach Eldon Miller.
The couple student taught overseas and wound up literally seeing the world the last 11 years, teaching three years in Cairo, Egypt, five in Saudi Arabia, and three in Indonesia before moving back to Cedar Falls.
George-Little Rock, winding up 21-7, earned a runner-up trophy with the semifinal cliffhanger over Boyden-Hull and also a 46-34 opening round win over Burlington Notre Dame.
NU High's road to the title started with a 58-38 rout of No. 2-ranked Bedford and included another impressive win in the semifinals, when the Panthers cruised 70-51 over No. 5 Victor HLV, leading by as many as 29 points.
NU High (49)
Min FG-A FT-A RB A PF TP
Ben Peterson 17 0 4 0 0 2 0 1 0
Nick Ellerbroek 32 2 8 4 7 7 0 3 8
Travis Ellerbroek 31 5 6 2 3 4 1 2 15
Brad Denning 26 3 9 0 0 0 1 2 7
Jay Miller 13 1 5 1 1 1 0 2 3
Joseph McKenna 21 3 6 0 0 3 0 1 7
Eddie Diemer 19 3 5 3 4 3 1 1 9
Kyle Denning 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Team 5
Totals 160 17 43 10 15 25 3 12 49
George-Little Rock (44)
Min FG-A FT-A RB A PF TP
Mack Vande Kamp 32 7 16 2 2 0 0 2 21
Alex Hopp 27 0 4 0 0 2 1 3 0
Tyler Starr 31 2 7 4 4 9 1 3 8
Trev Fiedler 32 4 5 3 6 5 3 0 11
Wes Peters 25 2 3 0 0 7 2 4 4
Jason Rypkema 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ethan Dirks 9 0 1 0 0 2 0 1 0
Joel Tiedeman 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0
Team 1
Totals 160 15 36 9 12 27 7 14 44
Score by halves:
NU High 15 12 4 18 49
George-Little Rock 15 12 6 11 44
3-point shots NU High 5-18 (T. Ellerbroek 3-4, McKenna 1-4, Denning 1-3, Peterson 0-4, Miller 0-2, N. Ellerbroek 0-1), George-Little Rock 5-13 (Vande Kamp 5-11, Hopp 0-2).
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