DES MOINES, Iowa (KTIV) -- -
Storm Lake St. Mary's and Boyden-Hull each won their first round games in the opening round of the Iowa boys Class 1A state basketball tournament on Monday.
St. Mary's, ranked second and seeded fourth, beat fifth-seeded Oakland-Riverside, 73-51.
Kennedy Drey scored 33 points and Luke Lenhart added 28 as the super seniors accounted
for 61 of St. Mary's 73 points.
"It's a great start, just like last year we had a great start beating Lisbon," said Drey. "Our confidence is high and we're going to keep the ball rolling into Thursday."
The Panthers (25-1) will play in the 1A semifinals on Thursday at 10:30 AM against top-ranked and top-seeded Danville, who won 78-46 over Wapsie Valley to improve to 26-0.
The defending state champions from Boyden-Hull (23-3) overcame a 23-20 halftime deficit to down second-seeded Lone Tree,58-54.
Colin Bolkema had 16 points to pace Boyden-Hull, while Riley Francis added 14 and the Comets shot 61% in the second half.
"You know it was ugly, but its like what they say, it's better to win ugly than a pretty loss," said Brandt Van Roekel. "We'll take whatever we can get down here."
"We come in as a seven seed, we're playing the two right away," said Boyden-Hull head coach Bill Francis. "So we know it's not going to be easy. It's going to be a tough game. They're not a two seed for no reason. We're behind the eight-ball right away. We knew they were going to be a good team, we just didn't play well, but we fought through it."
Boyden-Hull,the seventh seed in the eight team field, will play third-seeded North Tama (26-1) on Thursday at 12:15 PM. The Class 1A championship game is Friday at 6:05.
Kennedy Drey had 33 points as Storm Lake St. Mary's beat Riverside, 73-51, on Monday in the state tournament.
