Comets just miss capturing first NEIC boys hoops title in 10 years

Press Staff Report

The stage was set Friday night in Decorah for one of the teams to take the conference title.

That team ended up being Decorah as the Vikings slipped by the Charles City boys basketball team, 58-53, to win the Northeast Iowa Conference outright.

The victory gave Decorah its first NEIC boys hoops title in 25 years.

Both teams entered one of the marquee games of the season in the NEIC with identical 9-2 marks. Charles City was gunning for its first league championship in 10 years.

Decorah (16-4) bested Charles City (10-9) in the first meeting on the Comets’ home floor by 17 points in January, 76-59. The Vikings drained 12 3-pointers on that night.

Friday’s matchup saw the Comets limit Decorah’s long-range proficiency to just 5-19 from beyond the arc and just 32 percent from the field (18-56).

But the Vikings mustered just enough offense and grabbed 49 rebounds to go along 17-22 shooting from the charity stripe to rein in the victory.

Charles City shot just 14-24 from the free-throw line. Charles City drained its first eight free throws and the game was tied 25-25 at intermission.

“Our guys played hard and with heart for a full 32 minutes. I’m proud of their effort and execution in a packed gymnasium,” said Charles City head coach Ben Klapperich. “The game had a postseason feel to it. We had some good looks that didn’t go down for us in key points of the game, but our guys left it all out on the floor. As a coach, that’s all I can ask.”

Charles City was led by junior J.J. Ritter’s 15 points and Marcus Cranshaw’s 12 points. Cranshaw, a senior, scored five buckets in a row down the stretch and cut Decorah’s lead to just a single point with a little over three minutes left in the contest. CCHS senior Bradley Andrews finished with nine points and 12 rebounds.

Decorah sophomore Joseph Bockman led all scorers with 19 points. Matthew Franzen, Logan Halverson, and Andrew Magner scored eight points apiece.

“I thought our kids did a fantastic job executing our defensive game plan on their key guys,” said Klapperich.

Charles City’s contest that was scheduled to be played Monday night at Mason City was cancelled. The Comets next opponent will be against Iowa Falls-Alden (12-8) this Thursday at home in the regular-season finale.

Charles City is slated to play Waverly-Shell Rock in the first round of Class 3A postseason play this Monday in Marion. The winner takes on the victor between seventh-ranked Marion and South Tama.