The Lake Mills boys basketball making the Class 1A state tournament is becoming a regular occurrence. The Bulldogs punched their third straight trip to the state tournament with a win over Dunkerton Saturday night.
Lake Mills coach, Kyle Menke
Tuesday night, Lake Mills fought for their seasons’ life. It was the second straight year, the Bulldogs had a tough district final, but in the end, they were able to hold on for a victory over GTRA.
Saturday night was much different, and The Bulldogs were determined to end their season in Des Moines. Senior Bennett Berger scored the first seven points, and Lake Mills opened an early 11-2 lead. That turned into a 21-10 first-quarter lead, and the rout was on from there. At halftime, Lake Mills led 44-22 and were just 16 minutes away from the banner. They had it nearly sealed by the end of the third quarter with a nearly 30 point lead and ended the game by almost 40, 84-46
Wyatt Helming led the Bulldogs with 26 points, while Berger scored 21; Denton Kingland added 16 points.
The Bulldogs have received the 4-seed, matching them up with 5-seed Danville.
Danville went on a run from 2011-to 2016, where they made the state tournament five of those six years. They won back-to-back state titles in 2001 and 2002, but since 2016, the team hasn’t been to the state tournament, giving Lake Mills a leg up in experience.
The return of the Soukups: It didn’t take the Soukup twin brothers long to put Danville back on the map. Michael and Steven are in their second year coaching the Bears and are making their first trip to Wells Fargo Arena as coaches. Michael and Steven helped Danville to three state tournament appearances as players and were three-time all-staters. Danville was an impressive 103-5 the four years the Soukup brothers played for the Bears. Michael scored 1500 points and had over 500 career assists, while Steven reached heights few Iowans ever have, scoring over 2000 career points. Following their high school playing careers, they went on to play junior college basketball before starting their coaching journey. A journey that led them to Iowa City, where they spent one season learning under current Hawkeye coach Fran McCaffery.
Lake Mills and Danville will open the 2022 Iowa High School State Boys Basketball Tournament on Monday, March 7th, at 10:30 AM; the winner is likely to meet up with #1 Grand View Christian on Wednesday in the Class 1A semifinals, something Lake Mills is trying to do for the first time in school history. Meanwhile, in eight state tournament appearances in school history dating back to 1952, Danville has only lost in the first round twice.
KIOW will have full coverage from Des Moines on Monday, including carrying the game live starting around 10:15 AM with the pregame show.
Monday, March 7
Class 1A Quarterfinals
10:30—#4 Lake Mills vs. #5 Danville
12:15—#1 Grand View Christian vs. #8 Bellevue
2:00—#2 North Linn vs. #7 North Mahaska
3:45—#3 St. Mary’s, Remsen vs. #6 West Harrison, Mondamin
Class 2A Quarterfinals
5:30—#1 Central Lyon, Rock Rapids vs. #8 Red Oak
7:15—#4 Pella Christian vs. #5 Roland-Story
Tuesday, March 8
Class 2A Quarterfinals
10:30—#3 Mid-Prairie, Wellman vs. #6 Monticello
12:15—#2 Rock Valley vs. #7 Jesup
