North Tama boys stun Baxter with last-second 3

BAXTER — North Tama freshman Jared Dvorak wasn’t in Baxter’s scouting report.

After all, Dvorak played sparingly and scored a total of two points in the Bolts’ first two meetings with the Redhawks.

But Dvorak had the ball in his hands with his team down a point late in the game on Monday night. And Dvorak’s 3-pointer in the final seconds was the difference in North Tama’s 43-41 come-from-behind win in the Class 1A District 10 quarterfinals.

“That’s a great moment for him,” Baxter head boys coach Zach Hasselbrink said. “We did everything we talked about in the timeout. We wanted to put some pressure on but not too much that the ref would call a foul. They almost fumbled it out of bounds and (Adam Greiner) jumps and tries to make a pass that I thought was maybe a travel. It was a contested shot. That’s all we can do.”

The Bolts defeated North Tama two times by 15 points each during the regular season but couldn’t hold a nine-point halftime lead against the Redhawks in the latest meeting. They were outscored 30-19 in the second half and 18-11 in the fourth.

Baxter’s defense was good enough. The Bolts held North Tama’s best player, Gabe Kopriva, to just six points and the Redhawks shot just 35 percent from the floor and committed 23 turnovers.

But the Bolts’ offense was held to their second fewest point total of the season and Baxter was 4-of-21 from 3-point range.

“We did everything we could have done defensively, outside of about a four minute stretch, to win the game,” Hasselbrink said. “If you give up 43 points, you should win. But we just didn’t do enough offensively.

“They changed some things this time. They played strictly man against us the first two meetings. Tonight they were ultimately all zone.”

Baxter led 10-7 after one quarter as Cody Damman hit a 3-pointer and made a layup on back-to-back possessions to put the home team in front.

The Bolts extended the lead in the second behind six more points from Damman. They ended the half on an 8-1 run with all six of Damman’s points in the quarter coming during that stretch.

A good chunk of Baxter’s 16 turnovers came in the third quarter as North Tama (9-13) began its rally.

The Redhawks scored the first eight of the frame and actually went in front 25-23 following a 3-pointer and a free throw by Kopriva.

Damman got the lead back for Baxter (13-8) with a runner and a drive to the bucket and Treyton Travis nailed a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 30-25 after three.

“They were getting a lot of calls at the rim in the third, and that’s stuff we can’t dictate,” Hasselbrink said. “As long as we play straight up, everything else is out of our hands.”

Carson Scroggins and Trice Clapper answered each of North Tama’s buckets to start the fourth, but Devin McKinley hit a 3 and Adam Greiner made a bucket inside to tie the game at 36-all.

From there it was back and forth. And Damman’s 3-pointer with 1:26 to play gave Baxter a 39-36 lead.

A bucket by Greiner answered the Damman trey before a Bolts’ turnover led to a go-ahead layup from McKinley.

Travis’ drive and bucket near the rim put Baxter back in front with 26 seconds to play.

After a North Tama timeout, the Bolts nearly forced a turnover and a potential travel on Greiner was not called. That allowed Greiner to find Dvorak for the game-winning 3 and the freshman buried it just before the final horn.

“We have had a lot of humbling moments this year,” Hasselbrink said. “We have been in some close games where we needed experience to win. And now I think we have it.”

Damman finished with 18 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals in the loss. No other Baxter player reached double-figures as the Bolts shot just 32 percent from the floor.

“We had wide open looks all night and weren’t forcing anything,” Hasselbrink said. “We just didn’t get those good looks to go down.”

Travis finished with eight points and three boards off the bench, Rory Heer had seven points and three assists and Nate McMinamen chipped in four points, seven rebounds and three assists.

Clapper tallied five points and four rebounds off the bench and Scroggins collected four points and three rebounds.

McKinley led North Tama with 14 points, five rebounds and five steals, Greiner had 11 points and eight boards and Thomas Hulme chipped in nine points and eight rebounds off the bench.

The Redhawks were 4-of-21 from 3-point range and hit just 5-of-12 from the foul line.

Notes: North Tama advances to play at Iowa Star Conference South Division champion Meskwaki Settlement School in the district semifinals at 7 p.m. on Thursday. … The Bolts won 13 games this season and bring back all but one starter and all of their main bench players next season. “It was a good season. If this team’s expectations were somewhere in the middle, then next year’s team is going to have high expectations,” Hasselbrink said.  … Before Greiner made the pass to Dvorak for the winning bucket, he nearly left his feet while being guarded by Scroggins. Baxter’s coaching staff thought Greiner traveled but nothing was called.