Tigers take down 18-win Falcon team, 78-66

 
By Ryan Stonebraker
Sports Editor, Tipton Conservative

BURLINGTON — The Tipton boy’s basketball team won their 13th game of the season and advanced to Tuesday’s District Final game in West Liberty with a big 78-66 victory over an 18-3 West Burlington squad that is in the top-5 in scoring in class 2A. The Falcons came into the game averaging 72.6 points a game. Tipton held them to six points under their season scoring average and, the Tigers did something that only one other team has done against the Falcons thus far and that is score 78 points. Mt. Pleasant scored 80 against the Falcons in an 80-62 win earlier this season. The Tigers surpassed the Falcons average points allowed in a game, 52.0 in the third quarter of the ball game.
  Tipton basketball coach Matt Fouch said that the win was big for not only his team, but the school too.
  “We addressed it (how getting to a district final is rare at Tipton). This program and to an extent, the school doesn’t have a signature win. Not only for them, but for the school we needed a signature win. On paper, they (West Burlington) were better than us. An 18-3 team, conference champion, four double figure scorers, on paper they were better. Tonight, we were the better team. We brought energy and we got a big road win. Tipton seems to have never gotten over that hump of beating a big time team and tonight we did,” said Fouch.
  Tipton shot the basketball very well in the game. The Tigers shot 50-percent from the field in the game, making 20-of-40 shots. The Tigers were 32-for-47 from the free throw line in the game, something that helped with the win. The Tigers also shot 6-for-18 from the three-point line with four different players making a three-point shot.
  The Tigers advanced to play in a class 2A district final Tuesday in West Liberty. Originally, the district final was scheduled for Muscatine, but as the tournament progressed the state moved the game to Washington.
  After the Tigers beat West Burlington and West Branch beat Wapello, the state moved the district final to West Liberty. The Bears were 17-5 entering the game after beating Wapello at home in a district semi-final game. West Branch finished
the regular season as the River Valley Conference South champions.
  The district final game is one that Tipton has not been to many times over the history of the Tiger program.
  In recent history, Tipton was last in a district final in 2008 when the Tigers lost 56-54 to Davenport Assumption in a game played at Pleasant Valley High School. Tipton advanced to what is believed its only substate game in 2004 beatingSolon 64-45 at Cedar Rapids Xavier. The Tigers lost to NE Goose Lake in the substate game. The Tigers also played in the district final game in 1999, losing 54-51 to Bellevue at Clinton High School.
  Fouch said that his team was well prepared and that was key.
  “We were well prepared. We only had two practices to get ready for a team that you have never seen, you don’t have a lot of time to get ready. I give our guys a lot of credit. They were focused in practice and it showed tonight. We went over our game plan and they executed it,” he said.
  “I thought we had the most energy we have in a game this year. We put together our best 32 minutes of the year,” said Fouch.
  Tipton sent an early message to West Burlington that they were carrying the RVC banner into the game and jumped to a 5-2 lead behind two Logan Hoffman free throws and a three pointer by Andrew Stewart.
  Hoffman would score six of the first eight Tiger points in of the first eight Tiger points in the game as Tipton built a 9-4 lead less than three minutes into the game.
  A big play came with 5:10 left in the opening quarter. A Daulton Mente steal and ensuing breakout layup was blocked, but a hustling Zach Ford followed the shot, got the rebound, and put it back in to give Tipton an 11-4 lead and cement the aggressive play that Tipton packed for their road game.
West Burlington came back, they are too good not to, using an 8-1 run to tie the game at 12-12 with 3:19 left in the opening quarter. It would be the closest that they would come the rest of the game to getting the lead. The Falcons led early, 2-0 after a Caleb Honieg bucket to start the game. The Tigers would not trail again after Hoffman made two free throws to tie the game at 2-2.
Tipton would take a 14-13 lead after the opening quarter.
  West Burlington came into the game known for their pressure defense. Early on, the Tigers broke the Falcons press in three of the four times they slapped it on. Tipton had seven turnovers to the Falcons six in the opening quarter.
  Tipton extended their lead to 17-13 on their first possession of the second quarter when Stewart connected on his second three pointer of the game. The Tiger lead would swell to, at the time the biggest, nine points on Logan Hoffman’s 11th first half point, an elbow jumper to put the score at 27-18 with 4:36 left in the half.
  Later, Andrew Stewart’s third three of the half went in after hitting the back iron and catching the front of the rim with the backspin of the ball and dropping through the net to give Tipton their first double digit lead, 30-20. On the ensuing Falcon possession, West Burlington tried to get the ball into Tate Snodgrass, but Hoffman, playing good post defense, poked the pass away. Stewart scooped up the ball and sprinted to the other end. His lay-up bounced off the rim, but a hustling Hoffman who was trailing on the play got the rebound and put the ball back in to give Tipton a 12-point, 32-20 lead, their biggest of the half. A big three pointer by Brendon Claussen with 1:46 before halftime gave Tipton a 35-22 lead. The Falcons scored the final four points of the half to get the halftime score to 35-26.
  Tipton shot 11-for-27 from the field in the first half, including 4-of-10 in the first quarter and 7-for-17 in the second quarter. The Tigers made four three pointers in the first half. The Falcons got more shots up in the second quarter than the first, but shot 9-for-30 in the first half and 1-of-5 from the three point line.
  The third quarter saw the Falcons outscored the Tigers in a quarter for the first time in the game at 15 to 13. Tipton outscored the Falcons by one-point in the first quarter and eight points in the second.
West Burlington cut the Tiger lead to 5, 37-32 after a Snodgrass
bucket. That hoop was the only Falcon points from the floor through the 4:00 minute mark as the Falcons were 1-for-13 from the field to start the third quarter. West Burlington did their damage in the final half of the quarter.
  Luke Becker made a three pointer with 2:07 left in the quarter to give Tipton a 10-point, 44-34 lead and a Daulton Mente steal and lay-up again gave Tipton a 9-point lead, 48-39 late. The Tigers would lead 48-41 after three quarters. The Falcons put up 21 shots in the quarter, but only made four of them, including missing on all four three-point attempts. Four different Tigers scored in the quarter, one that saw Tipton make 5-of-11 shots from the field.
  Tipton had control of the basketball game in the fourth quarter. The Tigers were content
to make their points from the free throw line, as Tipton had 27 attempts in the final quarter, making 20 of their 30, fourth quarter points. The Tigers held double digit leads for most of the quarter and had a high of 15 towards the end of the game. Rooks Derosear made two three pointers in the quarter, each getting the Tiger lead under 10 points, but West Burlington could not get the score under eight points either time. The Falcons shot 9-for-15 in the final quarter, and scored the most points they scored in the four quarters in the final quarter, but it was too late.
  Tipton’s second leading scorer Andrew Stewart fouled out of the game with just over six minutes left in the game.
  “Everyone contributed tonight. When your second leading scorer fouls out with 6 minutes left. Luke, Brendon and Jacob all came off the bench tonight and played well, hit a shot and did some nice things when they had a chance,” said Fouch.
  Two Tigers scored in double figures in the basketball game. Logan Hoffman recorded his 7th double-double of the season, pouring in 34 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. He has had a double-double in five straight ball games. The Falcons had no answer for Hoffman, who got to the free throw line 22 times in the game, making 20 of those attempts. Andrew Stewart scored 16 points including three-, three pointers. Stewart made 7-of-9 free throw attempts.
Daulton Mente scored 9 points, grabbed 5 rebounds and had 2 assists while Zach Ford and Frank Bierman each had 4 points.
  All eight Tigers who played scored. Jacob Tischuk and Brendon Claussen each had 4 points and Luke Becker had 3. Ford led in assists with 3 and Tischuk and Ford tied for the steal lead with 2 each.
Tate Snodgrass led Falcon scorers with 17 points. Snodgrass averaged 15.0 points a game, one of four West Burlington players to do so in the regular season. Rooks Derosear scored 10 points and had six of his points coming from three pointers in the fourth quarter. Derosear made 40 three pointers this season coming into the game. Tanner Snodgrass scored 9 and Travon Ashby 8.
  The Falcons end the season 18-4 and set a school record for wins in a season. The Falcons were the champions of the Southeast Iowa Super Conference
and the SEISC South division.

Tipton 78, West Burlington 66
Thursday, February 16
At West Burlington
1 2 3 4 Final
Tipton 14 21 13 30 78
W-B 13 13 15 25 66
TIPTON (78): Zach Ford (g) 1-6 2-3 4, Daulton Mente (g) 4-8 0-6 9, Andrew Stewart (g) 3-9 7-7 16, Frank Bierman (f) 2-2 0-3 4, Logan Hoffman (f) 7-9 20-22 34, Luke Becker 1-4 0-0 3, Brendon Claussen 1-1 1-2 4, Jacob Tischuk 1-1 2-2 4. Totals: 20-40 32-47 78.
W-B (66): Tanner Snodgrass 3-9 3-4 9, Rel Greer 3-6 0-0 6, Rooks Derosear 2-7 4-4 10, Dayton Johnson 1-2 0-0 2, Travon Ashby 2-7 4-14 8, Jayden Breuer 1-1 0-0 3, Tate Snodgrass 7-20 3-5 17, Colten Hohenthaner 0-0 0-0 0, Caleb Hoenig 3-11 4-4 11, Shavontae Nelson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 22-57 18-31 66.
3-Pt. FG: Tipton 6-18 (Stewart 3-7, Becker 1-4, Mente 1-3, Claussen 1-1, Hoffman 0-2), WB 4 (Derosear 2, Breuer 1, Hoenig 1). Rebounds: Tipton 38 (Hoffman 13, Bierman 8, Mente 5, Tischuk 3, Claussen 3, Stewart 3, Ford 2, Becker 1). Assists: Tipton 9 (Ford 3, Mente 2, Stewart 1, Tischuk 1, Bierman 1, Hoffman 1). Steals: Tipton 6 (Tischuk 2, Ford 2, Mente 1, Bierman 1). Blocked Shots: Tipton none. Total Fouls: Tipton 22. Fouled Out: Tipton Stewart.