February 22, 2025

NV boys oust Diagonal from hoops playoffs

Wolverines win big, advance to play No. 9 CRB

By Ryan Stonebraker
Nodaway Valley's Jaxson Stringer lays a shot in against Diagonal in a boys playoff game in Greenfield Friday, Feb. 14.

Nodaway Valley's Jaxson Stringer lays a shot in against Diagonal in a boys playoff game in Greenfield Friday, Feb. 14. (Dan Dickinson)

Last Friday, Feb. 14’s win over Diagonal was Nodaway Valley boys basketball’s third in five games, but this one was a big one as it was a playoff game in Class 1A, District 13.

The 68-27 win set the Wolverines' record at 4-17 overall while Diagonal ended 0-17.

The Wolverines advanced to play the top seed in the district, seventh-ranked Coon Rapids-Bayard on Monday in Coon Rapids. The Crusaders sat at 19-2 entering the postseason.

The winner of that game was set to play Thursday night against the winner of another game between Murray (13-7) and Stanton (10-11). The bottom part of the bracket has Mount Ayr (18-3) playing Lenox (8-13) and East Mills (17-5) playing Griswold (8-13). The top seeds on the bottom side of the bracket are No. 1 Woodbine (19-2), who is ranked ninth in the state, as well as Bedford (20-1) and Southwest Valley (13-7).

“We are lucky to keep playing,” NV head coach Mick Long said. “There are a lot of teams in the state that would like to be playing right now, I’m sure.”

Against Diagonal, the Wolverines jumped out to a big 20-point, 26-6 lead after the first quarter and followed that up with a 23-8 run in the second to take a 49-14 halftime lead.

The 35-point mercy-rule running clock was activated in the second half. The Wolverines outscored Diagonal 19-13 in the second half, including a 12-3 run in the third quarter.

Two Wolverines scored in double figures in the game. Sophomore Ty Rardin led, scoring 13, while junior Jackson Stringer added 10. Other Wolverine scorers were Titan Foster and Parker Schneider with nine points each, Paul Berg and Ben Hoover with six, Dyllan Shannon with five, Jack Berg with four and Christian Putney and Jacob Fry each with two.

Diagonal was led in scoring by Owen Whittington with 17 points. Whittington averaged 11.9 points for the season. EJ Allee added seven.

The win was the second straight season the Wolverines have won their first postseason game. Last year, the Wolverines beat East Union in Afton before losing at East Mills in the next round.

The Crusaders came into Monday’s game on a two-game win streak. Coon Rapids-Bayard has scored over 60 points in a game 11 times this season. The Crusaders did not play a POI team this year. Junior Cal Heydon is the leading scorer with a 22.1-point scoring average while sophomores Ty Heydon and Cadeen Oswald also average double figures with averages of 11.0 and 10.4 points a game.

“We are going to have to get some stops defensively because they can score and we need to stay in the game. We also have to see the ball go through the net too, and that will really help,” Long said. “Coon Rapids-Bayard is a very athletic team and they can pass the basketball. We have some athleticism and we’ll see if we can match up with them.”