October 06, 2024

Cullen earns all-state in first year on varsity

By Ben Frotscher

Lynnville-Sully sophomore Chase Cullen (right) drives to the hoop on Tanner Cooke of Cedar Falls Northern University High during the consolation game on Friday. Cullen was named second team all-state by the Iowa Newspaper Association when the team were released this morning. (Ben Frotscher)

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DES MOINES — Just one year ago, Chase Cullen had completed his freshman season with the Lynnville-Sully boys basketball team on its junior varsity squad.

Now as a sophomore, he’s an all-state player.

Cullen was named second team all-state player by the Iowa Newspaper Association when the Class 1A teams were released today.

“I’m proud of what Chase has been able to accomplish for us this season,” Lynnville-Sully coach Nick Harthoorn said. “He had a great season.”

The Hawks finished the season 25-3 and took fourth place in Class 1A — the best finish for Lynnville-Sully since 2001. Cullen led the team with 13.3 points per game and also with 3.5 steals per contest.

“Chase has a natural instinct for the game,” Harthoorn said. “He handles the ball well, penetrates and can shoot. He’s a tough player for other teams to guard.”

A total of eight players were selected to the first team. On the front line, it was Eddie Diemer of Cedar Falls Northern University High and Rock Valley’s Jordan Dykstra and Marcus Heemstra.

Moving to the back court, it was Ryan Powers of Calamus-Wheatland, Boyden-Hull’s Josh Vander Maten and Chris Lindenmeyer of Bedford. Each team also had two utility players selected, with the first team adding Tim Schweitzer of Bedford and Brandon Eley of Colo-Nesco.

Cullen was selected to the second team at the utility position, while conference foe Montezuma had post player Damon Bryan selected to the third team on the front line. Bryan led the Braves with 17.8 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks per contest.

Cullen shot 47 percent from the field, 42 percent on 3-pointers and 73 percent from the free-throw line. He was second on the team in assists and third in rebounds, despite being just 6-foot.

With the graduation of five seniors — three taller than 6-foot-3 — the Hawks may be changing from a taller, post dominated team, to an up-tempo team.

“The team changes every year,” Harthoorn said. “We’ll just see how it develops. We plan to play a lot this summer. We’ll get a feeling for what things will be like this summer.”