The Remsen St. Mary’s boys basketball team dropped their substate final with fourth-ranked Lake Mills on Saturday in Spencer by the score of 41-38.
Things looked bad for the Hawks early in the contest. After scoring the first point of the game at the free throw line, Lake Mills scored 12 unanswered to take their largest lead of 12-1. Remsen St. Mary’s scored late in the first to make it 12-3 heading into the second quarter. Co-head coach Justin Ruden says going 1-4 at the free throw line to start the game hurt the Hawks’ confidence.
Following the rough first quarter, the Hawks were on a mission to do whatever it took to get back into the game. That included holding one of the best offenses in the state to just 29 points in the final three quarters of the game. Coach Ruden says the Hawks found their open shooters and contested them a lot better as the game went on.
The Hawks attempted 13 of their 23 field goal shots in the first half from the three-point arch. That was not necessarily what they wanted, but it was what they could get against the Lake Mills zone. Coach Ruden says that meant they had to make a concerted effort to get down low to Collin Homan and Sam Schmillen who finished with 16 and 10 points respectively.
The Hawks graduate a senior class of three players that rarely started if they did at all. Even though their impact on the court may not be as noticeable as some, Coach Ruden says they all impacted the program mightily during their time in a Hawk uniform.
The loss in the substate final means this will be the first Remsen St. Mary’s boys basketball team to not make the state tournament since 2016. It snaps a seven-year tournament streak of which only a handful of programs in Iowa history have ever reached. Coach Ruden says it was an impressive streak, and the players coming back will be motivated like crazy to start another streak next year.
The Hawks end the season with a record of 19-4. Lake Mills is off to the state tournament for the fourth time in five years. They will face off with their conference rivals from North Union next Monday in the state quarterfinals.
