Comets finish regular season with 53-49 win over Decorah; honor seniors and former Hawkeye star Brunner

CHARLES CITY — In a night where Charles City honored its graduating seniors, freshman Jackson Molstead scored a game-high 19 points to lead the Comets past visiting Decorah, 53-49, Friday night.

Molstead’s high-arcing runner in the lane put the Comets up 50-49 with less than 30 seconds remaining in regulation. Then Brandt Gebel, among those six seniors likely playing their last game in Comet Gym, made 3-of-4 free-throw attempts to ice the game.

Sophomore Cade Hemesath added 12 points for Charles City, who finished the regular-season with a 8-12 overall record while breaking even (6-6) in the Northeast Iowa Conference.

Decorah, which was led by Nicholas Bockman’s 12 points, fell to 8-12 and 5-7.

In addition to the Charles City seniors being honored, former Comet and Iowa Hawkeye star Greg Brunner was in the house to be feted for his pending induction into the Iowa Basketball Hall of Fame in March.

“This is the first time I’ve been back since I turned pro,” said Brunner, who remains the Hawkeyes’ all-time leading rebounder. He recently retired from a 10-year professional career, mainly in Europe.

“No, I’m done with pro ball,” said Brunner, who retired a year and a half ago and is now working as in financial analyst.

He still follows the ranked Hawkeyes.

“They’re playing with emotion that I haven’t seen in a while,” Brunner said.