North-Linn uses big fourth quarter to outlast Dunkerton in 1A showdown

North Linn is still undefeated

North Linn's Mason Bechen

By Ryan Timmerman  

DUNKERTON — In a late-season non-conference clash of unbeaten teams, the North Linn High School boys' basketball team showed Dunkerton why the Lynx are the reigning Class 1A champions.

Dunkerton was in a position to take down North Linn with a solid first half, but North Linn lived up to its top-ranked billing with a dominating second half.

The 1A fourth-ranked Raiders came out confident on their home court at Dunkerton High School and led 32-25 at halftime and 39-35 after three, but North Linn overcame the deficit and take the final, 60-46, on Thursday night.

“Especially early on, we showed we can defend against a team like that,” said Dunkerton head coach Todd Kuntz, whose team entered the game leading the state (all classes ) in points per game at 86.4 a contest. “For us to hold a team like that down for three quarters shows that our guys can play that way, and we’re going to have to play that way when the playoffs come.

“This was a substrate final type atmosphere. This will make us better in the long run. We haven’t faced much adversity this season. Losing a game at this point in the season isn’t the worst thing in the world.”

The Raiders, who were second to Dunkerton in team scoring per game before the game (83.4), ended the first half with an 11-4 run, but the second half proved to be a different story as the Lynx closed out the game by going on a 25-7 run over the final eight minutes to close out the victory.

Dunkerton falls to 17-1 on the season. 

The Raiders forced two early fouls by North Linn Tate Haughenbury to send him to the bench early and took advantage of the 6-foot-5 senior’s absence by attacking the paint, but the Lynx found answers even without Haughenbury on the court.

“This says we have more than just a couple of players,” said North Linn head coach Mike Hilmer. “(Dunkerton) took us out of our game in the first half. We told our guys that at halftime. We played the first half like they were the better team and had to play the second half like we were the better team.”

Haughenbury, who entered as North Linn’s leading scorer at 17.4 points a game, got North Linn out to a 4-0 lead by doing all the scoring himself, but would eventually foul out with 2 minutes and 21 seconds left in the game.

Instead, the Lynx (18-0) relied on a steady stream of points from junior Ty Pflughaupt, who finished with a game-high 23 points on 9 of 17 shooting from the field to go with four rebounds and five blocks.

The 6-foot-4 forward made all four shot attempts in the fourth quarter.

Mason Bechen scored a dozen second-half points for North Linn to end with 16 points, four rebounds and four assists.

Dunkerton (17-1) was led by senior Preston Gillespie, who ended with 12. Senior guard Casey Gardner finished with 11, and sophomore Noah Fuelling chipped in nine points, all on made 3-pointers. Gillespie entered Thursday averaging nearly 28 points per game.

“We thought Preston and Haughenbury would sort of cancel each other out,” Kuntz said. “In a way, they did. They both have such great length. But both of them thrive on getting to the basket, and both teams made it hard for them to do that. At least in the first half, our other guys knocked down shots when they needed to.”

The North Linn fourth-quarter blitz started when Bechen found Pflughaupt for a 3 to pull the Lynx within one (39-38) with just under seven minutes left in the fourth. The Lynx would then grab the lead on 3s by Bechen and junior Breckyn Betenbender, and North Linn wouldn’t look back as they would hold Dunkerton to just eight points from there on out.

“I told Mason at halftime that he was one of the best players out there,” Hilmer said. “But he didn’t play like it in the first half. He sure did in the second half, though.”

The Raiders, who already locked up the Iowa Star Conference North Division, return to action on Saturday at Hudson. North Linn, champion of the Tri-Rivers Conference’s North Division, is home for Marquette Catholic on Thursday.

“For us, the point of scheduling this game was to prove to our kids that we could play at this level,” Kuntz said. “North Linn has been the gold standard for 1A basketball for the last seven to 10 years. They’re the defending state champs, and this was a game for us to see where we’re at. Sure, we’ve led the state in scoring (this season) and blown a lot of teams out. But we knew (North Linn) would defend us better than anybody in the state.

“I think, more than anything, our guys know now they can play at this level. (North Linn) just made shots down the stretch, and we didn’t. They wore us out by defending so hard. We’ll learn a lot from this game.”