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Lynx the underdog against Ballard in substate quarters

WCHS hopes to fight offensive fire with offensive fire tonight

WEBSTER CITY — It’s taken three months and 20 regular season games, but Marty McKinney is ready to wave the metaphorical white flag.

The defense-first head coach of the Webster City boys’ basketball team has a pretty good idea of what it will take for his Lynx club to be successful in the postseason.

Here’s a hint: It’s not defense.

“At this point you are what you are and we have to score points,” McKinney said in the lead-up to tonight’s Class 3A Substate 2 quarterfinal against Ballard. “I’ve said over and over that we can’t get in shootouts with teams, but the makeup of what we are, we have to score points.”

Tighten your seat belt. The ride is about to start.

Sixth-seeded WCHS (11-9) and third-seeded Ballard (15-6) will tip-off at 6:30 p.m. inside the Algona High School gymnasium. Second-seeded Algona (17-4) and seventh-seeded Hampton-Dumont/CAL (3-16) will meet at 8 p.m. The two quarterfinal winners will square off back in Algona on Thursday.

McKinney would love to say his squad could shut down Ballard, but the truth is there might not be a team in 3A that could accomplish the feat. With capable shooters on the perimeter and size in the paint, the Bombers average 68.4 points per game, which ranks third in the class.

“Offensively they’re very good,” McKinney said of Ballard. “Physically we don’t match up with them great, so we’re going to try to get after them and hopefully give ourselves a chance in the fourth quarter.”

Ballard, which owns two wins by a combined 29 points over previously top-ranked Carroll, is led by 6-foot-6 junior Connor Drew, who averages 19 points and 7.9 rebounds per game. Drew can score from the lane and he isn’t afraid to step out behind the arc, where he’s clanged in 30 3-pointers. Ashton Hermann averages 15.7 points per night, while Kale Krogh — at 6-5, another wide body in the paint — puts up 6.4 points and 5.7 rebounds an outing.

What WCHS lacks in size, it makes up for it with quickness and athleticism. To exploit that, the Lynx will look to push the tempo and, quite possibly, get into one of those track meets that McKinney so often discourages.

“This group plays its best basketball when they can get up and down in transition,” he said. “We’re going to have to really execute at the offensive end with high, quality looks.”

Tyler Olson (12.8 points), Carter Neuroth (11.2) and Tavis Eklund (10.4) all average in double figures for WCHS, and Drake Doering (9.2) comes close to give the team a balanced attack. Olson leads the team in scoring, rebounds (6.2 per game) and steals, and is right behind Neuroth in assists. Eklund and Doering have combined to bury 82 3s on the season.

Working in the Lynx favor is the expectations game. Ballard is the favorite, probably a heavy favorite if we’re being honest, which puts the pressure in its camp.

“You feel a different pressure when you’re supposed to win,” McKinney said. “We can go out there and play like we have nothing to lose and, quite honestly, with a little bit of a chip on our shoulder.

“This is the fun time of the year. You win and you move on, or you lose and you’re done. We’re not going to hold anything back.”

TONIGHT

Who: Webster City (11-9) vs. Ballard (15-6).

What: Class 3A Substate 2 quarterfinal.

Where: Algona High School, Algona.

Time: 6:30 p.m.

Next: Winner advances to Thursday’s substate semifinal in Algona.

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