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There was no shortage of postseason awards handed out to the Wapello boys’ basketball team, as they recently had six players receive All-Conference honors by the Southeast Iowa Super Conference.
Maddox Griffin had a monstrous junior campaign and cashed in with a Co-Player of the Year selection in the North Division along with Pekin’s Brady Millikin. Griffin led many statistical categories in the league including points per game with 17.6, 163 total assists, 84 steals, and 71 made free throws. The 6’3’’ guard made 56% of his field goals, was a 72% foul shooter, and brought in 7.1 rebounds a night. Caden Thomas was also selected to the first team. No one in the division was more efficient, as the 6’5’’ senior made 65% of his shots to rank first and his 18 blocks was fifth. Thomas recorded 11.5 points and 6.4 boards a contest.
The No. 13 Wapello Indian boys basketball team saw their season come to an end in heartbreaking fashion in Tuesday’s class 1A district seven championship game against No. 5 Easton Valley 50-48 in double overtime in Clinton. The River Hawk defense made things tough on Wapello early, holding the Indians to just four first quarter points as they built an early advantage of six. Wapello answered back in the second frame to pull within 20-18 at half. Out of the break it was the Wapello defense that dug in, holding Easton Valley to just seven in the third to give the Indians a slim 28-27 lead going to the final quarter. In the fourth, the two teams stayed tight with Easton Valley leading by a pair with just 25 seconds remaining. On the final possession of regulation, the Indians got a tip in to send the game to overtime.
The Wapello Indian boys basketball team continues their run in the class 1A playoffs tonight when they travel to Clinton for a matchup with unbeaten Easton Valley. Wapello comes into the game with a mark of 16-3 on the season and ranked No. 13 in class 1A in the final Associated Press poll of the year. They were first round winners over Calamus-Wheatland 71-35 with Trenton Murray scoring 16, Maddox Griffin 16 and Caden Thomas 13 points. On the season, Wapello is led by Griffin at 18 points, eight assists and four steals per night. He and Rhett Smith are tied for the team lead with seven rebounds a game.
The Hillcrest Academy boys basketball team saw their five game winning streak come to a close at the hands of the Wapello Indians Friday 56-39. In a game heard on AM and FM KCII, Wapello led wire-to-wire, holding a 19-11 lead after the first frame. In the second quarter, the Ravens went cold from the floor, going through a six minute drought from the field while Wapello put together a 12-3 run and held a 34-19 lead at half. Out of the break, the Ravens pulled within 12 before Wapello answered with a 10-0 run to stretch the advantage to 22. Hillcrest scored eight straight in the fourth to shrink the margin to 13 but would get no closer. After the game, Wapello head coach Ken Spielbauer talked about his team’s night. “Defensively, our guards did a great job of not letting the ball get to the high post. We also started shutting down their dive stuff. When they made a run, we didn’t panic. We have done a great job of staying calm most of the year and we responded well. We thought w