Le MARS, Iowa — There are no stars on the Remsen St. Mary’s High School boys basketball team.
The Hawks, though, play a tough, grind-it-out-style that’s produced five state tournament berths in the last five seasons.
Remsen St. Mary’s, which moved to No. 2 in the Iowa Class 1A state poll this week, disposed of arch-rival Le Mars Gehlen Catholic 58-42 Tuesday at Tim Dreckman Memorial Gym.
The convincing victory improved the Hawks’ record to 11-0 and completed a regular season sweep of the Jays.
Not only did St. Mary’s shoot 61 percent from the field, but limited a talented Gehlen squad to its second-lowest output of the season. The Jays (8-3), with a pair of junior sharpshooters who’ve each eclipsed 1,000 points, made just one 3-pointer.
“I thought they competed and played very hard on the defensive end,” St. Mary’s co-head coach Justin Ruden said. “Every one of those players are scorers and our boys just came out and worked their butts off and really just shut down on defense and that’s what our identity is as a team.”
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Austin Jensen went to work early on a 17-point performance, scoring eight in the first quarter to stake St. Mary’s to a 16-11 lead. Jensen, a 6-4 senior, added nine rebounds and three blocked shots.
“Coaches hyped us up before the game, we knew it was going to be a huge game and we wanted to continue this winning streak,” Jensen said. “This is a really big rivalry, it’s been like that for a lot of years.
“Our coaches emphasize team play, so it’s us moving the ball around to find different scorers. Coach trusts all of us on the floor at any moment.”
St. Mary’s was 22-for-46 from the floor and held a substantial advantage on the boards. Four different Hawks grabbed at least five rebounds.
Cael Ortmann had 11 points and six rebounds, Ryan Willman eight points and six boards and Carter Schorg seven points and five caroms. Alex Schroeder contributed eight points in a reserve role.
Keaten Bonderson (12) and Carter DeRocher (11) combined for 23 points, but Gehlen shot 18 of 45 from the field, or 40 percent. Moreover, the Jays were just 1-for-12 from beyond the arc.
“Evidently, they’re just better than us,” Gehlen coach Mike Langel said. “They play physical and we can’t handle that very well. We have to learn to play with some adversity.
“We were in the game the whole way, we were within four or five points, but didn’t shoot very well. The three didn’t drop all night and it’s because of their defense.”
A conventional 3-point play by DeRocher – averaging 21.3 points per game – and a bucket by Bonderson (16.7 ppg.) trimmed an 18-11 deficit to one point with 5:38 left in the second quarter.
St. Mary’s, though, went on an 8-0 run, starting with a 3-pointer by Schorg and ending with a conventional 3-point play by Schroeder, pushing it back to 28-19. The Hawks led 32-25 at intermission.
The visitors made 6 of 8 shots in the third quarter and steadily pulled away in the final eight minutes.
Despite it being a rivalry game, St. Mary’s coach Ruden said his team remained focused on the task at hand.
“It’s kind of the luxury of what these kids have been through in all sports,” Ruden said. “I always tell them there’s no game too big or too small for them because they’ve been through it and done it all. It’s a good advantage for us that we have that veteran capability, especially with our seniors.
“Austin Jensen stepped up and had a whale of a game tonight. The beauty is they don’t know who’s going to score. Our leading scorer (Jaxon Bunkers) had just five points tonight, but other guys stepped up. That makes us tough to defend on the offensive end.”
St. Mary’s rolled to an 82-64 win over Gehlen on Dec. 21 at Remsen. The teams met in a substate final last season.
The Hawks moved to 6-0 in the War Eagle Conference, while Gehlen and Orange City Unity Christian are tied for second with 4-1 marks.
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