Tigers gear up for their 2nd appearance at state hoops

For just the second time in school history, and the second time in the last three seasons, the Madrid boys basketball team will be heading to Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines for the 1A state basketball tournament. This trip comes off of a 66-46 win on March 1 over Ankeny Christian to punch their ticket to state.

The Tigers did enough this season to go unbeaten and earn the two-seed in the 1A tournament where they will face 18-8 Boyden-Hull. The Comets earned the seven seed after upending MMCRU in their substate final 53-34 and are on a four game winning streak entering the tournament.

Madrid will see a mix of experience and some new faces in their return trip to state.

“I think there will be some nerves, especially from the young guys,” Madrid head coach Brian Surratt said. “It helps to have kids that have been there before because their focus is now more taking care of business than taking in the atmosphere.”

The Comets boast a pretty impressive defense this season as they allow just 50.5 points a contest and have not given up more than 40 points a game during their post season run. They pick up 29 rebounds a game and get 8.5 steals as well.

“We’ve faced a lot of tough defenses this year and that has helped us prepare for the postseason,” Surratt said. “We need to take care of the ball and share it with each other in order to be consistent on offense against them.”

Boyden-Hull averages 57 points a night on offense and makes 41 percent of their shots. The three-pointer isn’t a strength as they make less than 24 percent of those. Their top scorer is junior Carter Klienwolterink who scores nearly 18 points a night and grabs 4.5 rebounds. Behind him is junior Garret Van Es, nearly 13 points per game on 57 percent shooting. Sophomore Jakob Pottebaum picks up 10 points a game.

The Comets get to the free throw line quite a bit with 492 attempts this season as they make 65 percent of those freebies. 

“They get to the rim really well,” Surratt said. “They have a lot of action in their motion offense that gets guys good looks. I’m impressed with how hard they play on both ends.”

Madrid has been pretty good on both ends of the floor this season averaging nearly 80 points a game and giving up just 43. The Tigers make nearly 54 percent of their shots and 40 percent from behind the arch.

They’re also good at the free throw line with a 77 percent success rate.

The Tigers pick up nearly 35 rebounds a game too. Sharing the ball hasn’t been an issue with 18 assists a night and they swipe the ball well with 12.2 steals.

Waldorf bound Toryn Severson leads Madrid with 23 points a game to go with 7.3 rebounds. Freshman Jevyn Severson has 16 points a night with eight rebounds. Brody Buck pours in 14 points and dishes out 4.4 assists. Fabian Ortiz-Alaniz has 13.4 points a game and 4.4 assists. Emerson Bridgewater does a bit of everything with 8.8 points, seven rebounds, 3.8 assists and two steals a game.

This game at state is an inverse from two years ago when Madrid entered as a seven seed against the two seed who was North Linn. However, Coach Surratt doesn’t feel there is any pressure to having a higher seed.

“I don’t think there is more pressure being the two seed,” he said. “Every team down there is good and capable of winning it all. You have to focus on the things you can control and the rest will take care of itself.”

Madrid will tip off Wednesday afternoon against the Comets at approximately 2 p.m.