Class 1A — Marquette Catholic Defenders vs. St. Edmond Gaels

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Two champions crowned, two to go is championship. Friday rolls on to class 1A in Iowa's state capital. It's the sixth seed, Marquette Catholic from Bellevue against the one seed, Saint Edmund from Fort Dodge. Hello, everybody, and welcome in to the Casey Center in Des Moines. Alongside 2017 National boys Basketball Coach of the Year Hall of Famer Mitch Osborn. I'm Noah Wolf. It's a pleasure to have you with us on this Friday afternoon. Mitch 1A basketball can be very fast paced and we're going to see that here today.

It's going to be an incredible game. You got Marquette. They want to be a track meet. They get up and down the floor. Saint Edmunds going to pound it inside. And you got two great teams two great coaches. It's going to be a great matchup.

After our first half. Don't miss the Iowa PBS halftime show with Paul Yeager. He'll have game highlights, coach interviews and we'll cover Hall of Fame inductions and presentation of the Bernie Sanders Award. It's all coming up at the half. But first, the first half of basketball, a state title game, and Marquette Catholic is making their third straight trip to the title game, this time as the sixth seed.

It is, you know, and they've been there ten times. Like I said, and 11th trip and before, it's going to be quite, quite a matchup. Like I said, Marquette's averaging 74 points a game and they shoot the ball extremely well from the three point arc. Six players real close to double figures and and the junior Lewis Gonner had 17 each of the first two games. And this young man can play. And then you've got Evan on the other side. Hunter Horn led by Hunter Horn and and Carson Bargfrede. So what a matchup.

Saint Edmund coached by Adolph Kochendorfer in his 40th and final year as a head coach. Now we'll toss it to the PA inside the Casey Center for introductions.

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Time for basketball. This is the championship game in class 1A. The visitors on the scoreboard are the Defenders of Marquette Catholic. They have a record of 25 wins and two losses. They defeated Bishop Garrigan and Mmcru to reach the championship game. The home team on the scoreboard are the Gaels of Saint Edmund. They have a record of 25 wins and two losses. They defeated Woodbine and Notre Dame to reach this championship game.

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And now let's meet the Nonstarters and assistant coaches from both schools for the Defenders. Number one, Joseph Dever. Number three Taegin Smith. Number four, Ricky Booker. Number five Wyatt Gregorich. Number ten Landon Storm. Number 11 Brady Sieverding. Number 12 Parker Kueter. Number 14 David Marshall. Number 20 Tate Kueter. Number 22 Eli Laban. And number 31 Ethan Severson. The assistant coaches are Joe Kilburg and Tony Severson. For the Gaels number three, Ty Mericle. Number 14, Garrett Royster. Number 20 Jackson Calvert. Number 22 Griffen. Laufesweiler. Number 24 Thomas Ehn. Number 30 Logan Hansen. Number 32 Thomas Kenobi. Number 44. Drake. Vandy. Number 50. Jacob Moore, number 52. Jacob Nieland and number 54. Jameson Baker. The assistant coaches are Pat O'Rourke and Mitchell Rasmussen.

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And now

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here are your starting lineups. For the Defenders A63 senior number two Koen and.

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A 511 senior number 13 Cameron Gerlach A59. Junior number 15 Canden who. A64 senior. Number 25. Justin Severson and A58 junior. Number 30 Louis Gonner.

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For the Gaels A62 senior. Number five. Jacob who. A six foot senior. Number ten. Jack McElroy A61. Freshman. Number 12. Grant Galles, A65. Senior. Number 34. Hunter Horn.

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And A62. Senior. Number 42. Carson Barnes. Three.

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The head coach for the Defenders is Isaac Sturm, the head coach for the Gaels is Adolph Kochendorfer.

Welcome to the jungle. It gets worse here every day. Learn to live like an animal in the jungle where we play.

If your officials for this game are Ben Applegate, Sam Anker, Casey Pelzer and Andrew Jacobson.

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Lighting tonight at Casey's Center is presented by Musco Lighting, official lighting provider of the Iowa High School Athletic Association.

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PA Announcer Rick Stegman setting the stage for us before the 1A title game in 2026, the Gaels of Saint Edmund, the one seed in white. As we take a look at our keys to the game, the six seed Marquette Catholic in red. Mitch, what do you have? Well.

Marquette Catholic tried to turn this into a track meet and they're going to need a team effort on the boards because Saint Edmund pounds the offensive glass. They're a little bigger inside. Yes, they're going to try to pound the ball inside. Just what they're doing right now. That's Koopman. And then they transition defense. They got they got to get back take away Marquette's layups and their transition.

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And transition defense helps when you're scoring on the offensive end. absolutely. Get back and set your defense. Saint Edmund gets a bucket from Jacob Koopman to start things off. And a foul on Saint Edmund. As Grant Galles runs through a screen and picks up the foul. Excuse me, that's Carson Bargfrede called for the foul.

Something to keep an eye on there. Who gets in foul trouble yet? You got to play clean. Everybody's a little excited when you start the game.

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Roeder with the basketball feed. Severson up top. Now over to Gunnar. He has run the show for Marquette through this state tournament. A junior leader, the only returning starter from last year's state runner up team, Roeder thought about three. He'll take it inside. Roeder floats it in.

Nice dribble drive. Saint Edmund and man to man.

Bargfrede wants to post up, stops, has to kick out Koopman up top. He'll drive again. Koopman shovels it in off the window.

For Jacob. Koopman has had a terrific tournament. Great start for him.

11 points on Tuesday, ten points on Thursday for the senior forward, who averages about ten a game. Gonner gets a handoff, gets into the paint, gets stripped by Koopman. And that's what I've noticed about Jacob Koopman. It's not just his scoring output. He's got his fingerprints on everything. For Saint Edmund.

It's exactly what I said. The other two games I've done of him, it's just the things he does in the box score. It doesn't go in the box score. It's just everything a coach loves to see.

Bargfrede corner three short. Good rebound for Roeder Saint Edmund. A dominant win on Thursday. Made no threes in that game that they won by 19. Hey, good take.

Inside. Horn didn't want to foul there.

Severson gets the basket. Koopman brings it forward. Bargfrede floater is good.

Another late footer. Saint Edmund pounding that ball in there. Nice. Nice cut along the baseline.

Back and forth we go early on. Severson hands off to Roeder mid-range just strong. Horn with the rebound. He pushes forward to Bargfrede step through. Bargfrede a clean finish.

Tremendous move to avoid the charge. Bedwards wants to fast break also, but they're a little more selective. Where's Marquette wants to run almost every chance they get.

Four points for Bargfrede, four for Koopman for Saint Edmund's. Eight Severson looking for his second bucket. He gets it.

Nice move by the big guy inside. Horn might have to look to front him. You know, he walled him up, but he got buried too deep.

Bargfrede Saint Edmund's best three point shooter steps in for two. Looked like he was more used to shooting a three on that one.

I was too close for him.

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Gonner with the ball. And you know he does a great. He's a lefty so it's tough. They're taking his left away. Nice job there.

Severson kicks back two Gonner. He finds Roeder spots up for three. Rattles in.

Got the role there. A great three-point shooting team there 3,635% as a team.

A drive kicked away. Koopman recovers the loose ball. He'll take it to the rack and get fouled.

That's what Saint Edmund is going to. You're going to see continually doing.

As we take a look at this. Three from Koen Roeder.

Ball went inside. Good kick out. Knocks it down. Got the nice friendly roll. Great. Great job.

Jacob Koopman at the line shooting a pair foul against Marquette Catholic goes to Kameron Gerlach his first.

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Koopman has been right at 50% from the line in this tournament 67% this season.

Noah Marquette just went to their bench right away. Number three Smith and Carter coming in number 20. These young men can knock down threes. And so you got to keep an eye on them. Smith's got 78 on the year. Nikita's got 41.

And that's somewhat unique with Marquette Catholic as they will go seven deep. Saint Edmund will limit it to six.

Nice little flex cut on the baseline dribble handoff.

Gonner backs it out at the right wing. Gonner stops, throws it to the corner. There's Carter for three. Right on cue. Absolutely.

Just what we said. I'll tell you. You cannot let him get open. And Smith with 78 of them. A couple.

Of threes for Marquette Catholic in the early going. And a travel will give it back to the Defenders.

Good defense there. And we got the officiating crew here.

Another three for the Defenders. They've got a pair early on.

There it is. On cue we said three point shooter comes in the sub knocks it down. Nice pass by Gonner.

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Good cut from Gonner but it's taken away by Jack McElroy saying Edmund wants to push with Horn. He's looking for his first basket and he gets it. Hunter Horn their star.

Oh he's so versatile.

Weber wants to drive loose ball rolls and it's tapped forward by Koopman, but he steps on the sideline. Saint Edmund looking for a basket in transition like they got here.

Here's that discipline and powered up muscle. It.

And now a conversation between our officiating crew.

Great job by them get together. Make sure we get it right.

I think they were asking no change if there was a change in possession or not to reset the shot clock. They determined no 24 seconds for Marquette Catholic.

Goal!

Carter hit the three last time down for Marquette. He gets it to Severson. Severson bounces up in the paint and floats it in.

I tell you, he's doing a nice job and they're attacking, going at Horn trying to maybe pick up a foul and Hunter's going to have to look to front him. Like I said.

McElroy out to Dallas, kick out to Koopman. He'll drive the baseline floater short. Couple of tips on the rebound, but Severson rises above to grab it.

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Nothing there for the Defenders in transition, so they'll run some half court offense, but it's lost and taken away by Horn. Galles bounces to Horn into the paint blocked but a foul.

Great great pass by Gaels in their Hunter Horn with the take inside.

Taegin Smith picks up foul. Number one.

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Hunter Horn at the line shooting two. 26 points a game for the senior forward for Saint Edmund had 27 on Thursday's semifinal win, 17 in the quarterfinal game and nearly averages a double double, nine and a half rebounds per game this season.

Absolutely. He's all around. And you know he tweaked his ankle the first game the first quarter. Thank goodness there's nothing serious.

Second one won't roll in and the rebound out of bounds to Marquette.

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I'm interested to see what Hunter Horn is going to do down here or what adjustment coach is going to make, because Severson has been pretty darn tough down on the block.

Six early points for Justin Severson three for three from the floor. Smith corner three. Just strong. Horn tips the rebound to Koopman, but the save is kept there for Marquette. Then a tip. And that's the thing about this game is it can be very frenetic at times. These two teams love to run and Saint Edmund nearly got a run out there.

They get their hands on both teams, get their hands on loose balls. Deflections are important. Lots of times we tell our guys, get a deflected ball, it's going to come our way. And so both teams are just hustling, working extremely hard.

Ty Mericle checks back out for Saint Edmund Carson Bargfrede back in there.

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Gonner. Shovels out to Smith. He finds Weber back to Smith. Stops for three off the back heel rebound. McElroy and Bargfrede trying to run in transition. Got caught by Smith and a foul call.

You know I thought that was that was still that was a good shot by Smith. Like I said he's shooting 44% 78 threes on the year. That's a good look for him.

Taegin Smith picks up his second foul and he checks out for Canden Weber. Smith's dad played in the NHL a couple times from 1998 to 2000 with Colorado 0506 with Edmonton. Good hockey player.

That's quite a feat. You got a son that's a basketball player. Absolutely.

Horn. Corner pass, three ball. No. Horn an offensive rebound and he is fouled.

That's where we said you know one of the keys is the team effort on the boards. And right there they got Marquezc going to have to really dedicate everybody to help board. They like to leave somebody out. Sometimes when the shot goes up. But you're going to need everybody.

And now Cameron Gerlach has picked up his second foul. So some early foul trouble for the six seed. Marquette two players on the bench with two fouls. Gerlach a starter. Smith off the bench with two fouls. Koopman floats it up just strong and the rebound tipped into the hands of Horn. He banks it in.

And Hunter Horn great putback. Guess who made that play. Koopman he missed the shot but he tipped it right to him. He should get the assist on the play.

Back tied as we enter the final minute of the first quarter. Raider on the drive didn't have the angle tipped back up. No. And Horn pulls it down.

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McElroy thought about it, finds Koopman.

Good man to man. Defense by Marquette.

McElroy out to Bargfrede ten to shoot for the Gaels. Koopman. With five to shoot. Finds Horn drives the baseline. Absorbs contact. Missed the shot. Offensive rebound. Bargfrede can't get it. Seven seconds for Marquette.

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Gonner no stranger to buzzer beaters finds a teammate and the three just off to end the first quarter. A tie game at 14 between Saint and Marquette Catholic. That's the end of the first quarter. Now here's a word from Iowa Bankers.

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The corner talk.

It's now time to present the Iowa Bankers Association Student Athlete Achievement Award. The Iowa Bankers Association has been awarding student scholarships for three decades. This $1,000 scholarship is awarded each year to a senior who demonstrates leadership on the court, in the classroom and in their community. The 2026 Student Athlete Achievement Award winner in class 1A is Brandon Dreckman of M m c r u, presenting the award is Kyle Wester from Farmers State Bank in Marcus. Congratulations Brandon on receiving this scholarship and thank you Kyle and the Iowa Bankers Association for their sponsorship of this award.

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As sold titles.

After one quarter of the 1A title game, a tie contest between the six seed Marquette Catholic and the one seed, Saint Edmund, alongside Hall of Fame basketball coach Mitch Osborn. I'm Noah Wolf. Mitch back and forth contest not far from what we expected.

You know, it's been a great, great first quarter. Well played, good discipline. Both teams just about exactly what we said. Severson has been tough inside and got six big points there, and I think that was a big boost. And plus Sarah Hunter Horn got to make a decision there. What he's going to do, like I've talked about. But you got two great coaches. You got coach K with over 600 career wins and you got a young guy, Sturm Coach Sturm with 100 wins in five years.

Second quarter begins. Marquette Catholic coached by Isaac Storm in his fifth season, and he's already on his third state title game triple. Good for Canden Weber.

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Great. Great shot. Look great. Great rotation. He's got. He's shooting 35% from that arc.

Three threes in the game from three different Marquette Catholic players to Saint Edmund have the response. They do thanks to Ty Mericle off the bench.

Great answer right there. Great answer. We got a shootout going that's for sure.

First three of the game for Saint Edmund. Kueter misses that one and Horn tracks it down.

Know what I love about Hunter Horn? He gets a rebound. He can bring it himself. He can handle the rock.

He takes it all the way in and gets fouled as Koen Roeder picks up foul. Number one.

He's got. He's a big man but he's got guard skills. Yes. So that's what he's so diversified and that's what I like. Saint Edmund I liked offensively. They've been running sort of that high low with him and Koopman. And they can dribble drive and take it off the dribble. But it's been fun to watch these adjustments. The coaches are making. Coach what a great set play coming out of the quarter.

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The skills you talk about from Horn certainly valuable at this level. They'll be valuable at the next level as he's set to play basketball next year in college. Not sure where yet. He has yet to make a commitment.

Well he'd be. He's going to be a good fit for whoever.

Horn second free throw goes down.

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Jack McElroy defense right now has been really, really good on Gonner. And you know, I think he's been taking his left away and holding him down so far at this point.

Roeder charges through and that's a foul on Roeder on back to back possessions, one on each end of the floor. He's the third Marquette player with two fouls.

He put the pressure on and attacked, lowered the shoulder a little too much there. And you know what? You take the shot in the chest. You went down and got the call there and I thought it looked like it looked like the right one for sure. You know, lots of times I don't always agree with the refs when I was coaching, but I never missed a call when I was coaching.

And Roeder subs out for another player with two fouls. Ssmith back in for Marquette.

They went to A23 zone. Right now they're going to look to protect some guys in foul trouble. Changing defense here by Marquette. Nice move by coach.

Horn spots up, misses from deep and a rebound for Tate Kueter. Gonner runs it forward. Back to gunner.

I'm sorry Moa that's where Hunter was right. Horn was going to front Severson on the block. Coach made that adjustment. Look at him right now. Sliding around. Gotta have weakside help for the lob.

Now that pass just too long but saved into the hands of Saint Edmund. And a run out tip in. Good for Horn.

That's where that discipline comes in.

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Weber wants another three. Gets it.

He check it's in a couple nice threes by Weber.

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That ties the game at 20.

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Saint Edmund trying to figure out this zone. Dallas connects from deep.

Gets the role and he can knock that baby down to like I said. But I think it was a good move by Marquette's coach.

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Go to that zone. Let's make him hit a couple shots from that arc.

You talk about forcing gunner to his right. Hills fire the three. Not there, but that has been the scouting report on him and the previous two Marquette opponents. Just couldn't accomplish it. Saint Edmund very disciplined defensively.

They're doing it absolutely Jack McElroy doing a great job defensively.

Horn double teamed passes out of it. Extra pass. Bargfrede back to McElroy.

I like to see Saint Edmund get somebody in the middle of that zone. There you go. There's Hunter Horn cutting in there. Finally.

Dallas rebound tipped into gunner's hands. They push forward through. Ssmith out to Weber.

Look for him, maybe run. Oh, there you get another three. Smith, Smith.

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Looks like the old Walton Skinner days back at Palmer with Brian Pearson and Troy Skinner going back in the 80s. Now.

Smith approaching 80 threes on the season. That's his 79th. Bargfrede the answer.

How much fun is this when ball's going in? It's fun to watch and it's fun to announce. It's fun to coach.

A shootout brewing in Des Moines. Three threes for Saint Edmund. Five for Marquette Catholic.

And Bargfrede got 54 of them on the year. He's 34%.

That's a guy you don't want to lose from outside. Weber can't get it.

That was definitely a heat check there, Noah. A little fading away.

Dallas wants to drive. Bounces to Bargfrede. He floats it in.

Net. Great. Great pass.

That's the recipe for success for Saint Edmund. And if they can sneak it on transition even better.

Absolutely steal a bucket here or there. That is you got a we got a barn burner. Obviously big possession here.

Both teams at or over 50% from the floor. Kueter gets fouled.

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Shot. Saint Edmund has been hitting him from deep.

And right there that's Weber for Marquette knocking it down. Here comes Saint Anne Bargfrede right there. Look at that. Nice Ehn out. Kick out hits the three.

Grant Galles. Excuse me. Carson Bargfrede picked up his second foul there on the play and he sits down. Severson is travels.

That was great. Weak side help and Hunter Horn fronting him. Good bounce pass there. Severson does a great job with his body and sealing away. But good weakside help.

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Great weakside help by Saint Edmund.

A five point lead in the basketball for the one seed, Saint Edmund. Their sixth trip to the state championship game. They've won it once. Koopman can't hit from downtown.

In and out.

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Gonner and a foul called on the floor. That's Ty Mericle.

What's impressive right now, Noah is Saint Edmund is cutting down the running game of Marquette. And a missed shot that got back in transition baseline out of bounds. Here we come.

That's what's impressed me really about both of these teams. In all the games that they've played here in Des Moines, both Marquette and Saint Edmund have been the most disciplined team in the game. Kueter short offensive rebound Louis Gonner and a steal. A lot of contact now on the run out of block, but a foul Tate Kueter commits the foul.

No doubt. Good run out that loose ball. I know a lot of a lot of loose ball. You let him play through that and and a nice job by the officials.

Jack McElroy at the line shooting a pair.

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Saint Edmund has been to the free-throw line. This will be free throws seven and eight for Saint Edmund. Marquette has yet to go to the line.

And that's a little difference there. Powering inside. They're the ones getting in transition right now. They got the deflection and got the run out.

McElroy misses both an opportunity here for the Catholic school from Bellevue.

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Gonner has been running the show for Marquette all tournament long really all season long.

Little back screen there setting up Severson Severson great great take.

Kueter floats it in from the middle of the paint. Back to a one possession game. Horn commits a charge.

Yes he did. Lowered the shoulder. Good call and a great job of defense there by Smith getting his feet set.

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Marquette Catholic within a bucket after Saint Edmund had extended to a five point lead.

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Near steal there for Jack McElroy. Gonner picks up the loose ball, finds Kueter, floats it in. Nice hook. Shot from Tate Kueter.

T1 sophomore six two. Great. Great move. Good shot.

Huge minutes off the bench. And he gets the deflection and a steal.

Marquette went back to man to man here. They're on the break.

Gonner kicks out to Carter and he dishes to Severson who loses it out of bounds. But it's tapped off of Saint Edmund.

There's that track meet we were talking about right there.

But again, disciplined defense from Saint Edmund. They cut off the transition look and are forcing Marquette to play in the half court. Both of these teams have played excellently in the half court so far.

Very, very impressed.

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Inbound to Gonner near midcourt.

McElroy defense was terrific. They ran that out of bounds play for Gunnar.

Severson spins around offensive foul. Justin Severson picks up his first. That's the fourth on Marquette Catholic of the second quarter.

Just lowered the shoulder a little too much and Hunter Horn has set there and reset. Nice job, both a nice job and good job. By Severson on a good move. Attacking.

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Let's make him make a call. Maybe he gets a second on him.

Under a minute to go until halftime.

Here's the high low we're talking about. I was talking about.

McElroy out to Mericle triple try short Severson pulls it down. Forward to Weber. Marquette Catholic can hold for one shot here if they so choose. They don't. Smith knocks it down.

With Smith's. Got that good of a look.

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He's got to take it.

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Seven zero run for the Defenders. To Saint Edmund. Have an answer before halftime. McElroy floater. No tip in. Not their.

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A seven point run for Marquette to take a two point lead into the locker room. It's Marquette Catholic 30. Saint Edmund 28. Folks. He's been perched above the action all game. Here's Paul Yeager to tip off our halftime show.

Thank you very much, Noah and Mitch. Great for a good track meet.

We've had some low scoring than. We've had some good scoring because we all know that basketball is a game of runs right there. Noah just mentioned as we were going to the break seven point run for Marquette as they close out the first half and they're doing it on an 11 to 25 shooting for 44% for that's for Saint Ed's for Marquette, they're at 55% in their half shooting. So you find out what you're going to do and adjust here at halftime. And that's what we're going to do right now. And talk with Coach Isaac Sturm. All right coach, it's a game of adjustments. What's the biggest adjustment you see your team made in the first half.

You know I think we had a lot of turnovers early that led to run outs for them. You know they want to get in transition. And we helped them by turning the ball over taking some quick shots not getting back on defense. I think if we limit that stuff give ourselves a chance to play half court defense, I think we'll be okay.

Your team had a good start. You worked on that earlier with this squad. Tell me how they transitioned now to do that in the second half.

You know I think what we got to do is make sure that we keep moving on offense. I think we got a little stagnant especially off the ball. You know our weak sides got to move. We got to set some away screens. If we keep doing that I think we'll get some good shots. And when we take good shots I think they're going to go in.

All right coach thank you very much. Appreciate your time.

Yeah thank you.

Appreciate it. All right. That's Isaac Sturm head coach of Marquette Catholic. We're going to go back down to the floor for one of the special presentations. It's time to meet this year's Hall of Famers.

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No matter what you.

Tonight's halftime awards are presented by the Iowa High School Athletic Association for the Officials Hall of Fame. The Basketball Hall of Fame, and the Bernie Sacco Award of Merit. Presentations will be made by the Board of Control for these prestigious honors for all time achievements in our state. Tonight's Officials Hall of Fame inductee was a four Sport and Fine Arts standout at Aplington-parkersburg, who began officiating basketball and baseball at the age of 19. Over nearly 30 years, he worked 33 state basketball tournaments for both boys and girls, including ten title game appearances and a run of 18 straight boys tournaments. Joined tonight by his family and his former crew members, please welcome into the Officials Hall of Fame, Justin Stockdale.

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Our next awards are for the Iowa High School Athletic Association's Basketball Hall of Fame, our first honoree is Marcus Paige, a 2012 Linn-mar graduate who is an assistant coach with North Carolina and could not be at Casey's Center this evening. U n u n c basketball sent along this video.

Say hi coach.

Marcus. This is from the Iowa High School Athletic Association Basketball Hall of Fame. Please accept this plaque and our Hall of Fame honors, which recognize you as one of the best in the history of our high school basketball. Congratulations. Thanks.

I appreciate it. Thank you, thank you.

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I'll take this in here. Awesome. Thank you, thank you. It's neat.

Thank you so much for allowing me to be involved in this. It was a great thrill for me to recruit this young man and coach this young man. Good luck in this year's state tournament. And I always love Iowa high school basketball. Look at that.

Congratulations to Marcus. Paige.

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Coach. Our next honoree was an all state guard at Newell-Fonda who led his team to the class 1A title in 1991. He averaged over 20 points per game in all four varsity seasons, topping 2000 points and 300 made three pointers in his career. He went on to play basketball at Buena Vista and coached at Iowa high school level for 25 years, including two tourney trips with Creston in 2005 and 2006. Welcome back to Des Moines and into the Hall of Fame. Jim Calkins.

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Our next Hall of Fame selection was a student athlete at Ankeny and Grandview before joining the high school coaching ranks. After time at C.W. Elle in Carlisle. He had runs at Cedar Rapids, Kennedy and Ankeny Centennial, winning 474 career games and making five state tournaments. His teams won eight conference titles in the Mississippi Valley and Ciml, and he was named a National Wooden Legacy Coaching Award winner in 2025. Help us congratulate coach Bob Fontana.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

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A three sport standout at Clarinda, this Hall of Famer started his coaching and teaching career at Monroe in 1975. He coached five different sports at Monroe and later PCM, making his name with boys basketball and 632 career victories over 42 years. His teams made ten state tournament appearances and won the 2A title in 2004. Please help us honor Hall of Fame coach Fred Lorenzo Lawrenson.

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Thank you

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Our next Hall of Fame selection recently retired after 43 seasons as head coach at Wapsie Valley. His 670 wins put him in the top ten of Iowa coaches all time, and the Warriors made eight state tournament appearances with him. Wapsie Valley had a runner up finish in 2003, led by his son Brooks. The state's all time leading scorer. Then one class 1A in 2020. Please welcome back to Casey's Center and into the Hall of Fame coach Marty McCowan.

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Our final Basketball Hall of Fame pick tonight was a three time all state guard who led a G, W, s to the 2001 title game in class 2A he scored 2100 career points while also racking up more than 500 rebounds and 300 steals and 300 assists in his varsity run. He went on to play on three NCAA tournament teams at uni. Please help us congratulate Adam Veit.

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Our final award of this halftime is the highest honor presented by the I. S The Bernie Saga Award of Merit, which honors individuals who have leadership, service and support of education based activities reflect the values of the IHSAA. Our 2026 honoree served Denison Community School District in multiple teaching, coaching, and administrative roles for 41 years, retiring at the end of the 2025 school year. A former A D principal and head football coach with the monarchs, he served two terms on the I h a a Board of Control and is a member of the Iowa Football Coaches Hall of Fame. Joined by his family. Please help us congratulate Bernie Sagar, Award winner Dave Weber.

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Let's have one more big round of applause for this year's honorees. Thank you.

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We are at halftime in our third game of our quadruple header here on Iowa PBS Marquette Catholic from Eastern Iowa leads Saint Edmond's from northwest central Iowa. That's where you want to put Fort Dodge Marquette up by two.

That's a tough.

Public television has been just a wonderful part of our life. It's easy to say what we like about it. For me, the trust that is implicit that we have put in public broadcasting and without trust, you don't have a whole lot of other stuff to believe in.

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Iowa PBS celebrates Festival with special programs, concerts, and exclusive in-person events. Choose from experiences like a day tour of historic Davenport. The cheeky manners for the modern era at the Iowa PBS studios, or an exclusive tour of Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, all taking place this year. Call 877 nine 7000. Visit iowapbs.org and support Iowa PBS. Today.

Here.

Halftime. Marquette leads Saint Edmunds by two 3028. Here in the class 1A state championship game on Championship Friday. Glad to have you here everybody. As we continue our halftime program. You just saw the Hall of Fame. Now it's time to find out who's maybe going to be there someday with their performance that they're doing today in the class 1A championship game. It's been up and down with a lot of great shooting. Let's take a look at those first half highlights here. Between Saint Ed's and Marquette.

Early on, it's.

The boys in red. The Defenders, it's Justin Severson. He gets the turnaround. He has six here in the first half. Then it's going to be Tate Kueter from the corner pocket. Three ball.

Good.

He leads this. He's the leading scorer for set at seven. And then it's Taegin Smith his three ball. He has six. So very good balanced scoring for Marquette for Saint Ed's. It's really a good performance here from Carson Bargfrede. He gets the drive the step through and the finish. He got your balance bud. And then a good kick from Hunter Horn. And it's another three ball there. That is. I was looking at his points and I think it's nine nine is the points that he has right there. So pretty good battle here so far in this contest as we get Saint Ed's head coach, Adolph Kochendorfer is going to join us here in just a moment as we cover his final game, 40 years of coaching for Saint Ed's. He played at Upper Iowa. He's from Guttenberg, and here's his chance now to go out and make those last adjustments in the halftime. We'll talk about that when we return here to Des Moines.

Our.

Iowa PBS Education throws open a window to the world by bringing PBS into classrooms and homes all across our beautiful state. Our Find Iowa production team visited all of Iowa's 99 counties to showcase stories steeped in history, science and art. Iowa Science Phenomena allows students to link the physical world they see when they step outside the classroom to science concepts they're learning inside the classroom. We partnered with Ballet Des Moines to provide educational activities connecting art to science. Our steam trailer and bundles are some of our most popular outreach tools. Libraries and schools can borrow these resources at no charge. The Iowa PBS Farmers Marquette program is an interactive station for kids and parents to stop, play and learn. It all adds up to nudging that window to the world. Open a little wider for each and every Iowan.

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Marquette Catholic leads by two over. Saint Edmund Koch joins us now. Adolph Kochendorfer Koch, let's talk about the balance in this contest. Pretty balanced scoring. And you're also driving the basketball. Well let's start with the scoring part. How do you like your ball movement.

We got to do a little bit better ball movement in the second half. We're standing a little bit too much. So hopefully we talked about it at halftime. Hopefully we get some guys moving without the ball a little bit better.

All right then let's talk about the driving and the tracking and getting Marquette in foul trouble. That's something we might not see in the score now, but it's going to pay dividends in the second half.

Right. I hope we can keep doing that. Yeah I hope we can keep getting in the lane on him like that. If we get the transition going, I think that's when we get some stuff at the basket.

All right coach I appreciate your time. Thank you so very much.

Okay. Thank you.

All right. That's coach in his final game. And let's go down to the final half of the 1A title game. Noah Wolf Mitch Osborn. Take us away, gentlemen.

Paul Yeager. Thank you very much. Fine work as always, as we've got a tight contest. Pretty much as expected between these two schools. Marquette Catholic with a two point lead. The Hall of Famer Mitch Osborn. I'm Noah Wolf and Mitch. What the doctor ordered in this game so far.

Absolutely. We talked about the transition, the track meet, what Marquette does is shooting. They're shooting the three in transition, which I talked about and is tremendous. That's when they're getting their best looks at the threes in transition. And and right there Hunter Horn got to go inside. Just a little more attacking inside. They went to the they went to that two three zone but then hit a couple threes. But look at Marquette got seven. I think they got six threes already. And and they've had average about seven.

Yeah six threes already for Marquette Catholic. As we take a look at our halftime stats what stands out to you on this one Mitch.

Well obviously the shot selection I think both our teams are doing a great job on shot selection taking. Then you got the bench points. Marquette Catholic you got the two young men Smith and Carter coming off the bench. They combined for 19 off the bench during the season. And they already got 13. Right now.

Isaac Sturm the head coach for Marquette Catholic. He's in his third straight state title game. The Defenders have lost this game two years in a row. Is this the year that Marquette Catholic gets its first state title, or will Saint Edmund return to the mountaintop for the first time since 2000? Bargfrede to tie the game to open the second half. Can't do it. Gunnar pushes.

Marquette started in his zone. That first possession.

That was working for him at times in the first half, Severson banks it home.

Great look. Great post up.

Marquette Catholic ended the first half on A70 run, so that's nine straight points now for the team in red. Horn out to McElroy. Back to Horn in the paint. Looking for the pass. Finds Bargfrede floats it up and in.

Great pass on the weak side. There.

Puts an end to almost four minutes without a basket for Saint Edmund. If you count the last part of the first half, they finally break a scoring drought.

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Man to man will cut again to the post. Up. There you go. Hunter Horn getting in front. It got weak side help from Bargfrede.

McElroy strips it out of bounds. It'll stay with Marquette Catholic with 13 seconds.

Severson. Obviously he's a little wider body. He's a strong young man. And Horn's got to get around him. Cannot stay behind him because he's getting buried too deep.

Gonner finds Severson gets it back. Gonner with four to shoot, kicks out. Weber steps into one, misses strong offensive rebound and then that one's taken away, but it'll stay on this end.

Great offensive board. You know we talked about Saint Edmund's rebounding. Marquette's averaging right at 15 offensive boards a game. So they know what to do. They go to the boards and crash him.

Gerlach gets that offensive rebound and receives the inbound pass. Weber gets into the paint. Roeder bounces to Severson who travels.

Just shuffled the feet a little bit. Got a little hurry. Nice out of bounds play on the baseline there they ran. Two guys run the baseline cut and just great play.

And I thought excellent defense by Saint Edmund. It was getting clogged in the paint but they didn't foul.

Absolutely.

Gaels back to Horn in the corner.

Great identification by Marquette. Now it's almost like a match. Another back looks like they're back in man to man. Right there.

Pass tipped, secured by McElroy. Shot clock does not reset. Bargfrede launches. Couldn't get it. And on the rebound. Out of bounds to Saint Edmund. They get a fresh 35.

Yeah I think Saint Edmund's got to look to pound that thing inside right now and really take it inside. Stop this run because Marquezc really dictating things right now. At the end of the half, at the beginning of the quarter.

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Get through.

Koopman very impactful early on lately, not so much. His turnaround doesn't go.

That's a little that's a tough shot. Little fade away.

Still a lead for Marquette Catholic. They've played two very close games in this tournament. Won a thriller over Bishop Garrigan to open things on Tuesday. Weber kicks to Gerlach. Jumper is good.

Nice pull up. 12 15ft. It's a lost art. Everybody wants to shoot a three or a layup. But that 15 footer off the dribble. Nice move.

What's been striking to me about Marquette throughout this tournament is when they've got a lead. They've been able to protect it even as teams come back against them. They always have had the answer here in Des Moines. Horn turnaround from 15ft won't go. Great rebound tipped out to gunner.

Great job boxing out by Marquette.

Gonner some shifty dribble moves. Loses it out of bounds. Saint Edmund basketball.

You know and right now Marquette's got feel good. They're up 3430. And Gonner right now is not had a point. And that's that's due to a lot of great defense by Saint Edmund and McElroy. And but he's doing a great job distributing the ball and not forcing things.

For of Marquette's seven assists have come from Gonner. He's also got four rebounds tied for a team high.

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Koopman bounces to Bargfrede up top for McElroy. Bargfrede drives and is fouled on the floor.

Nice drive and coach talked in his halftime interview. They had to move move much better and he absolutely did right there. The team was moving them. Good motion offense.

Cameron Gerlach picks up his third foul and checks out for Canden Weber.

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First foul of the second half by either team. Horn eight points in the first half. Looking for his first in the second half. Kicks to Bargfrede stops in the paint floats just strong. Tipped out to Koopman. Horn got his hands in there and has the basketball out to Bargfrede. Corner three is short. Gunnar snags it.

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Gonner a great cross court pass, dribble drive, kick out. Ssmith just too much. Severson offensive rebound and a jump ball called. It'll stay on this end.

That was a great set there. Marquette Gunnar with the great pass. But they made the extra pass and got the white. Got the open three. And you know the way they've been hit. And that was really I thought it was going to go in but nice job going to the boards and got a tie up and got the arrow.

Roeder inbounds to Severson. Roeder likes to slash. He finds a lane to do so. Nearly got the basket to fall, but he'll go to the line for two.

Good point. They ran a little dribble handoff there. First to start with the flex cut on the baseline. Then the dribble handoff and Roeder took it to the hoop.

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Got to the free-throw line. Actually this I think could be the first couple of free throws for him for the game.

Sure is. Roeder a 70% free-throw shooter this season. Hits the first.

I think Saint Edmund comes down this next trip. I think you're going to look at them. You got to get the ball inside and get Hunter Horn down on that block. And you go back to Koopman at that high low post. They ran some the first half.

Two good ones at the line for Roeder a six point Marquette Catholic lead their largest of the day. They're there.

They're setting it right there.

Dallas on the attack. Tries to bounce to Koopman. It's out of bounds. Defenders with a little bit of momentum here and they get the basketball back.

They're playing solid half court defense and not gambling. And that's a big key playing solid.

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The Saint Edmund crowd in green rises to its feet, matching the Marquette crowd in red. Marquette pass tipped. Horn comes away with it on the run. Got it.

That's what the senior does. Hunter Horn they got to get him going there and that's going to. That was a great run out. Nice bucket. They needed.

Cuts into some of that Marquette momentum Roeder out to Kueter short. Good board for Dallas. He is fouled.

Good board. Marquette three guy.

Take a look at this run out from Hunter Horn got the deflection.

Great finish. Good challenge. Like we said he's got the speed to run the floor and handle the ball.

On that rebound. Taegin Smith picks up his third foul. A pair of Defenders with three and Ssmith stays out there with three fouls.

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Going back to zone. Protect their guys in foul trouble. Two three.

Dallas.

Sorry no they got Hunter Horn right in the middle there. There's Koopman.

Koopman spins around just strong. Good rebound for Ssmith.

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It's good luck.

Gonner picks it up. Smith has a pair of threes. Floats it for Carter and a time-out for Marquette Catholic. First time out. We've seen in this game as Coach Storm wants to talk things over. Stay in the know with Iowa Press. Join Kay Henderson and guests for in-depth conversations on the issues shaping Iowa. Tune in Friday nights at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at noon on Iowa PBS or stream online anytime. Well, a four point lead for Marquette Catholic and the basketball. They use their first time out here. What's going on in that Isaac Sturm huddle?

Well, I think right now they're going to come down and I think they're going to probably look to go inside to Severson inside on the block. And he's had a terrific game and he's been getting buried on the block. And like I said you've got to get him fronted. If you're Saint Edmund you got a front end. But I think that's what I'm looking at because the ball goes in, they double team, he kicks it out. They got an open three because Saint Edmund's got to stay out on the three point shooters. So they got they got a baseline out of bounds play here. So we'll see what happens here. Could have a three pointer coming in the corner. The guy inbounding.

Roeder is the Inbounder. He's not a huge three point shooter. But he'll take some and make some. Inbound goes up top to Weber and he's fouled trying to drive as Carson Bargfrede got in front of him and picks up foul. Number three.

That was a.

Big impact for Saint Edmund as Bargfrede their leading scorer today with 11.

Definitely can't pick up a fourth. Got to play clean here.

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All the guys.

He stays in the game. Inbound to Weber again. Kueter attacks missed off the bottom of the backboard. Awkward rebound is secured by Marquette Catholic Kueter back there. Count it in the foul.

Come up with a loose ball and then. Gunnar. What a pass. Terrific pass on the play. And.

We'll see it again.

Here it is. Winning the loose ball was Weber. Good ball fake. Get him up in the air. And one.

Horn picks up his second foul. Kueter shooting the and one nine points to lead Marquette today. Make it ten. A seven point lead now is the Defenders largest. Saint Edmund couldn't seize the momentum. Marquette definitely has it back. McElroy finds Koopman into the corner for Mericle. McElroy backs it out. Horn in the corner, drives the baseline. Spin move gets fouled. Hunter Horn will shoot a pair.

Great take by Hunter Horn there along the baseline. He's tough to handle. He's a slasher when he gets off the dribble. Look out.

Two fouls on Tate Kueter.

Shot.

Horn 68% from the line this season. Got to the line 14 times last night and made 11. Already. His fifth trip to the free-throw line today. Now two of five with a sixth free throw in coming.

You just got to reach up block out call it reaching in the cookie jar.

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The senior leader for Saint Edmund cans the second.

There you go Hunter.

Final two minutes of the third quarter.

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Severson has not missed a basket today. He's not going to shoot it from there. He'll hand a Kueter. Back to Severson at the free-throw line. Looks to distribute to Gunnar.

Got the mismatch. Got the switch.

Gunnar steps back, misses strong long rebound. Out of bounds to Saint Edmund. That's a heady play by the senior forward Jakob Koopman.

You know very much was I Gonner he had a good look, but they had the mismatch with Severson. He had the smaller guy on him. And I know coach over there saying, gosh, we got to go in. But you know what? Gunnar is going to make a lot of those. So you can't really turn that down either.

But he was mismatched too, with a bigger guy on him. Absolutely. Would have made the entry pass a little bit difficult to Koopman wants to drive, kick out Mericle now to Dallas.

Marquezc back to man.

Horn on the cut. Horn is fouled again.

[APPLAUSE] [LAUGHTER]

Koen Roeder picks up his third foul now. Three different Defenders with three fouls late in the third quarter. It's not too concerning yet.

Great job by Saint Edmund. When they went to man attacking inside. Even when they're in that zone they can still attack inside. But they've really got to go in now when they're in foul trouble, get the free-throw line like they just did right there.

Horn stemming the tide somewhat for the Gaels from the free-throw line. What was an electric shooting performance by both teams in the first half has cooled slightly here in the third quarter.

Adjustments have been made.

Second one twirls the iron. No rebound tipped out of bounds. It'll stay with Saint Edmund.

And that's Koopman creating that.

What a fight from him.

Yeah. You know I was going to say these adjustments. We got two terrific coaches and we're seeing it right here. These guys I'm so impressed.

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McElroy inbounding from the baseline into Koopman quick trigger. Missed it strong and a foul on the rebound. Good board by Tate Kueter. And he's fouled by Ty Mericle two on him.

[APPLAUSE]

Just a minute left in the quarter but next foul everybody's going to be shooting.

[APPLAUSE]

Both teams got 14 fouls.

Time-out for Saint Edmund. First time out that they've used of the day as coach Kochendorfer in his final game as a head coach finds his team down by five late in the third quarter.

You know a key is is going to be everybody's got to play with poise. And we saw it with Marquette. They ran that seven zero run and just got it. Poise up. And that's what coach is telling his guys over there. No need to panic. Play with poise.

We'll take a look at a unified music performance from some of the earlier rounds here at the tournament. Beats by Jags as it inclusive Cardio Drum Club in Ankeny Centennial, which brings together students with and without disabilities to create a drumming club. Some of the fun stuff squeezed in between halves in a. But it's been a very fun five days here at the Casey Center.

Absolutely. I love the unified. What they've done is great.

Final minute of the third quarter. Marquette Catholic looking to add to a five point lead. They've upset the three seed in this 1A tournament. The two seed now trying to upset the one seed coach storm calls time-out trying to avoid a five second call on Louis Gonner.

You know and that was created. Jack McElroy defense has been terrific. You know Lewis still doing Gonner has done a lot of great things. But like I said, McElroy, that's a tough match. That's a tough young man to guard. No kidding. And got to give a lot of kudos to McElroy. But that all created down low. Hunter Horn had Severson fronted down on the block and not playing behind him. That was a big adjustment coach made over there. Coach K made.

Marquette Catholic keeps the basketball out of their time-out.

[APPLAUSE]

We'll see if coach got a sideline out of bounds. Play upset up here because they could do a two for one if they scored early. But we'll see what they do.

Kueter sideline inbound throws it to the backcourt a two for one potentially not a big priority at that point.

That.

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Kueter steps into one. Just strong rebound to Dallas. Saint Edmund can try to make it a one possession game heading to the fourth quarter.

Saint can hold a one.

And they will.

Marquette back in that two three zone.

[APPLAUSE]

McElroy starts things up Koopman at the baseline.

Just made an adjustment back to man. Noahh.

McElroy spins around, dumps it to Horn. Horn is fouled. Horn a little frustrated. He wanted to finish for a chance at three, but he'll go to the line for two shots.

It was a great pass. Great cut along the baseline. Now you got to knock your free throws down a five for 12. Right now. So and Marquette's three for three.

And Horn is four of eight. Two big ones here. And he makes the first as Hunter Horn up to 12 points today. Four of eight from the field. Now five of nine from the stripe. One more free throw would make it a one possession game going to the fourth quarter.

[APPLAUSE]

Horn sticks.

It.

1.2 seconds for Marquette Catholic long one from Kueter. Good if it goes. Wasn't that far off.

He made a run at it, that's for sure.

Saint Edmund cuts into. At one point, a seven point deficit. It's Marquette Catholic 39. Saint Edmund 36. As we take a look at the journey for these two teams, the old light up board is still here in spirit. At the Casey Center, we see the graphics of it. Saint Edmund, 95 miles from Des Moines North in Fort Dodge, Marquette Catholic, one of two Bellevue schools to qualify for the 1A tournament. 204 miles to Des Moines from the Mississippi River.

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Scan the QR code or call the number on your screen to support friends of Iowa PBS. Congress recently cut $3.5 million in federal funding, the largest one time cut in our 55 year history, impacting 18% of our budget. Despite this challenge, we remain committed to our mission. Thank you for supporting public media. A thriller so far, and this is what we expected from. Despite the seed differential, Marquette Catholic feels like they belong here and they have shown that they do. But identical records for these two teams, both 25 and two coming into this game and Marquette Catholic has been here now three years in a row, so don't call them a Cinderella story.

Absolutely. And their losses were to Bellevue and Burlington, Notre Dame, two state tournament teams, and Saint Edmund, you know, lost it. Like I said, you got two heavyweights hitting each other right here. And we're looking down a nail biter going to the very end here.

And for Marquette Catholic, nail biters have been how their last three seasons have ended. They lost by two points to Madrid in the state final last year, by a point to North Linn in the state final in 2024, and in the substate final, also lost by a point. So their last three season ending losses have been by a total of four points. You know, that stings, especially for the seniors on this team.

That is that is correct. And it's a it's a heartbreaker. But at the same token, give them credit. They've been there. They've been there making that run, and they want to get over the hump. Now you got Fort Dodge and this is Coach K's last season. And these seniors are all starters from a year ago returning. They want to. So it's going to be a battle. We got eight minutes. Looking forward to it.

Back and forth. This game has gone. Saint Edmund, the one seed. The Catholic school from Fort Dodge trails by three. Entering the fourth quarter to the sixth seed, Marquette Catholic from Bellevue. The Gaels with the deficit begin the fourth quarter with the basketball.

[APPLAUSE]

Coach from back in the zone to start this first possession.

Horn from the baseline floater to strong. Bargfrede fouled on his putback attempt. That's an aggressive play by Carson Bargfrede who has three fouls. He's got to be careful. But he knew he had the right to go get that rebound.

Absolutely. Good weak side board and good shot there along the baseline. And just got to get a body on him sooner. That's the one thing about playing zone. It's tougher to find your guy to guys to box out first.

Free throw is good for Carson Bargfrede Cameron Gerlach checks out after having picked up his fourth foul.

[APPLAUSE]

Bargfrede. Two of two Saint Edmund within a point.

[APPLAUSE]

Free throws have been big for Saint Ed, getting him back in as.

They've hit at least their last four.

[APPLAUSE]

It's been in fact six in a row from the stripe for Saint Edmund.

Got him posted.

Weber into a double team. Throws it out to Roeder. He's looking for space travels.

Nice job by Roeder taking it in. He just probably should have just went up. Pulled up about five feet a couple feet sooner.

[APPLAUSE]

He was trying to make some contact and and just shuffled the feet a little bit.

Now a full court press. Look here for Marquette Catholic as they turn it over for an 11th time in this game.

[APPLAUSE]

Dallas able to get it over against one on one. Pressure from Canden Weber.

And Marquette back to man.

Horn picks it up. Out to Koopman into the corner for Bargfrede. Back to Horn spins around, puts it up to strong out of bounds, stays here.

Saint Edmund when he went to that man, they're looking to go inside. He just couldn't. Not quite finishing yet. Got a baseline out of bounds play here. We'll see what they're running.

Ten offensive rebounds after that latest one from Saint Edmund.

Definitely a difference.

Koopman thought about the three drives. It instead might have been altered at the rim. It's out of bounds still to Saint Ed.

That was a tough shot. He was hoping to get bailed out.

[APPLAUSE]

Can Saint Edmund claim the lead or will Marquette live up to their name and be the Defenders? Koopman drives it in again, spins around, floats it up and scores.

There he was, under control. Jump! Stop! Little jump hook. Good defense by Severson. Great D by him.

Eight straight points for Saint Edmund and a turnover forced Bargfrede bounces to Horn. Marquette able to stop the transition.

[APPLAUSE]

Look, but can Saint Edmund keep an eight zero run? Push it to 11? Yes, coach.

Gonna need a time-out here. Let's see if he goes with it this trip. He's got a play called. He's going to play through it.

Ssmith doesn't have the answer. Tipped rebound secured by Dallas. And he is fouled. Justin Severson has his third foul. Eight straight points for Saint Edmund. Here's the last two buckets. That one from Koopman.

Koopman under control with a nice jump hook. And here's his guard skills. He's more than capable.

[APPLAUSE]

And boom. That's what your senior does. He steps up when it's prime time.

In fact 11 straight points for Saint Edmund and the basketball. After a defensive rebound. All the momentum going the way of the team in white.

Time. Marquezc just got to poise up right now. Got plenty of time. It's only a four point game.

Koopman sprints it down. And now Saint Edmund will run its half court set. Koopman floats it in with the right hand.

They're attacking inside.

13 straight. Time-out.

Good time-out by coach. Absolutely. Got to get the guys settled down. Get a good get a good set play here. Coming out of the time-out.

A six point deficit for Marquette Catholic as Saint Edmund has scored 13 in a row and will listen in to head coach Isaac Sturm.

Okay.

We're going to run chestnut. We're gonna run chestnut. Hey, chestnut. Okay. Are you sending the screen? Okay. Be patient. Okay. Be patient. A few mistakes. We're back. Fine. Here. Okay. We got to get stops, though. We got to get stops right here. Okay? I believe in you guys, but we got to get a stop right now. Yeah. Go get the rebound. We can't give them all them tip outs. We got to collect the board. Okay? We have to collect the board there. Okay. Down here. Keep shooting the basketball with confidence. Okay. Shoot it with confidence. All right, you got this. We can do it right now. We're in one. Get it. Let's go, let's go. Team on three. One two. Three.

Well, for Coach Storm belief in his team. And he should believe in his team. But he makes good points on the rebounding battle. I mean you knew that would be a key coming into this one. And it's gone Saint Edmund's way. Especially here in the second half.

[APPLAUSE]

Absolutely.

[APPLAUSE]

I love his poise and composure in that huddle and that that reflect and get these guys calmed down. Young men calmed down ready to go. He's got a good play coming out of the break here.

Saint Edmund their six point lead is their largest of the day.

[APPLAUSE]

Can Marquette cut into it and end 13 straight points for the Gaels? Koopman a steal, a run out. Couldn't finish offensive rebound, put back good Jack McElroy trailing the play.

Deflection outrunning.

A fourth quarter that is all Saint Edmund foul. McElroy got the bucket. He picks up the foul.

[APPLAUSE]

His first Saint Edmund's first. And that might just give the defenders a chance to breathe here. They couldn't score out of their time-out. Now 15 straight Saint Edmund points but a chance to breathe. A chance to reset and coach Kochendorfer will call time-out here for the Gaels to set up their defense.

You know, I think and I think coach over there Coach Sturm is going to come up to something here. Got it. Gunnar going a little bit. He's got five rebounds five assists. But he's not getting any shot attempts. He's only taking a couple. And that's due to the great defense. And he's not forcing anything. But I think he probably ran a clear out for him. Some type of a clear out where he gets a side open where there's no help defense there for him. And so we'll see what comes up here. Because he gets going. He gets going downhill. He's either going to make the bucket or get maybe the free-throw line. But turnovers have been the story right now as we got 13 for Marquette for for Saint Edmund. That's a that's a big part of it.

Well the only thing faster pace than this game at this tournament has been the radar gun challenge. In earlier rounds, two pairs of students from each student section sprinted across the court, and the Iowa State troopers tracked their run speeds. This might be the only time authorities hand out rewards for speeding. And there's been some speed in this one.

Their up and down the floor, that's for sure. So here we go. We got plenty of time. Eight point game. But Saint Edmund's really feeling it right now.

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Louis Gonner has been the key for Marquette Catholic. Even back to the substate game. He hit a buzzer beater in overtime to get them to this tournament. He's been in control in the quarters and the semis. He throws it away there as Hunter Horn comes up with a massive steal for Saint Edmund.

You know. And part of that was Severson got to hold the seal just a little longer and come meet the pass.

Horn almost had it stolen as Gerlach trailed the play. Horn spins to the basket, gets his own rebound, puts it back up and in.

That's a man. That's a man possessed. Wants to win a state title.

Double digits for the first time in this game. A ten point lead and the basketball. Back to the Gaels.

I know coach has only got. I'm looking up here. He's got two time-outs left. He might need another one.

17 zero run for Saint Edmund as Marquette has now turned it over 15 times.

There's still plenty of time. They really just got to be patient. Not only offensively. You got to be patient defensively. Don't gamble right. You still got time.

Everything going Saint Edmund's way in this fourth quarter. And even at the end of the third.

Horn got a mismatch inside Bargfrede muscles.

It in Severson rebounds. A double digit deficit for Marquette Catholic for the first time in this tournament. What response does the team from Bellevue have? Roeder backed all the way up to half court and almost another steal, but Koopman, who's been all over the place all tournament long, was standing on the sideline there.

Jake Jakob Koopman does everything, everything and does the dirty work and does everything. But right now what he needs is extended that defense. So you can't get any open threes. They're not. They're shutting down Kueter and Ssmith this half. And those guys had free reign the first half.

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Marquette Catholic looking for its first basket of the fourth quarter.

Here's that clear out. I just talked about.

Smith on the drive and an offensive foul. Horn draws the charge and Cameron Gerlach has fouled out of the state championship game. Just extends the arm there a little bit too much. Yep.

That's five five on him. And you know I thought Gonner great dribble drive penetration. Coach made a great call. And I really wish he'd just taken that one there. Now at this point he's got to be maybe just a little more selfish. Okay. Got to be a little more selfish. And now they're going to have to go for some reflections, some steals. Because like I said, patient. But you know, they're going to probably run the shot clock down as much as they can each possession.

Now I've talked about the composure and organization of Saint Edmund. You're absolutely right. They are going to run the shot clock here. They have just been so organized all tournament long. No doubt they've talked about these late game situations.

If they got if you got a three footer or a layup, they'll take it. But they're going to run it down.

McElroy into his defender. Floater.

Good shot. That was six seconds left. Shot clock. Good job by Saint Edmund.

Just the second bucket for Jack McElroy of the game. And Isaac Storm uses another time-out. The fans from Fort Dodge are feeling it now. 15 zero for Saint Edmund. Here's the latest one.

McElroy good spin around. Knocks her down.

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Hey Noah, the one thing I was going to point, you know, the turnovers you got 16 for Marquette, four for Saint Edmund, and then Saint Edmund. On the other hand, offensive boards got 13 to 6 Marquette rather. That's the tale of the game right here. Now, what Saint Edmund did this second this fourth quarter in the second half is they Kueter and Smith, the two young men that come off the bench. A great three point shooters, they shut their water down and they've really extended that defense out and said we're going to take that arc away from him. And Hunter Horn is fronted Severson on the block and shut that down. And so it gets tough. And but Marquette's been doing a great job. And with the way they shoot threes, they're still not out of this.

When you talk about the turnovers plus 12 in the turnover game as well as the offensive rebounds 13 of those. That's led to 15 more field goal attempts for Saint Edmund compared to Marquette Catholic. And they're plus 13 in free throw attempts. When you get that many extra possessions you see leads like you do right now.

It's tough to overcome.

Kueter stops for a long two and a foul on the rebound will give it to Saint Edmund. Yeah, push is going the Defenders way right now as Koen Roeder picks up his fourth foul.

And you saw Saint Edmund really extended the arc. Like I said, coach, coach K said we're getting out there and they're not getting any threes off right now.

Full court press is broken by Saint Edmund. And now they'll slow it down. That foul called.

For storms taking Severson out right now. Trying to put 53. shooters out there on the floor at once.

McElroy will go to the line as Louis Gonner picks up the foul. Five fouls on Marquette Catholic Saint Edmund shooting bonus free throws. First one no good.

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McElroy four points, three rebounds and an assist. He gets his fifth point from the stripe.

And most importantly he's been his defense on Gonner.

Marquette Catholic nearly eight full minutes without scoring. Weber can't end that streak, but an offensive rebound for Koen Roeder. He'll pull from deep and hit big three for Marquette Catholic. If they want to get back into this game.

Hanging by a thread, but they still got a chance. Get a couple turnovers here.

Horn turns, misses, but a rebound out to Gallas. Out of bounds. Stays with Saint Edmund. And Jakob Koopman doing some really nice leadership right now. He's a little bit upset with his teammates for taking such quick shots. He says slow it down, run out this one. As we take a look at Marquette's three.

Roeder knocks it down absolutely two quick two quick a shot. You got to travel there. Switches pivot foot. But like you said coach K was not happy either. Get the offensive board. Bring that thing back out. Unless you got a two footer. And I was a little surprised that Hunter forced up a shot. He probably shouldn't have taken. But you're feeling pretty good. So like we said and here they go.

Trying to cut it to single digits. A blocking foul called on Carson Bargfrede not Ehn legal guarding position as he absorbs some contact. Four on Bargfrede. It's on the foul, it's on the floor and it's just the second on Saint Edmund of the fourth quarter. Roeder gets it in to Weber. Weber hands off with Roeder chucks it up. Almost had it offensive rebound, then it rolls out of bounds off the foot of a Saint Edmund player.

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Gonna really need a bucket here. Down ten a minute 36 left. And doesn't necessarily have to be a three. Take it two right here.

Especially if you can draw something up out of this baseline inbound. Later into Weber. Back to Roeder. He drives another blocking foul called.

Good call. Wasn't set.

Koopman tried to draw an offensive foul instead. Fouls for the first time today as we take a look. Yep. Shuffling the feet as he drew the contact.

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Another baseline inbound for Marquette Catholic. You kind of want to see him run a play trying to get a look at the basket.

And they were they were trying last time on the three. They're coming. They're.

Kueter tries to drive. He's fouled on the floor. So the clock stops again. Not the worst thing in the world for Marquette. Certainly.

Absolutely. And right now they'll go to the free-throw line on the next foul. They score. They're going to get in full court pressure and hope for hope for a turnover. A couple turnovers to get back in it.

Horn whistled for the foul. His third.

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Roeder. Into Weber back to Roeder. Now Weber. Kicks out to Smith. Time ticking. Smith a step back corner three into the hands of Koopman.

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Horn is fouled as Isaac Sturm gives the signal to his team to start fouling.

You know that's an example. They were extending the defense so far. You could have driven in maybe got a layup. You know I can tell you stories. In the past. We were down eight to Dubuque Wahlert with a minute ten left. And we came back and tied it with two seconds. And unfortunately I already mentioned this in the broadcast before Erikj hits a half court shot should win it. Lost the title game on that, but we're down eight with a minute, ten left. You don't have to paint. You can you go to the hoop, get the two pointer. You got a time-out. Get a turnover. Foul. They miss you know so it can happen.

And well here what Isaac Sturm is drawing up in the huddle.

You got to be quick. Give me a rebound down here. Okay. And let's get going. Okay. If we can get it. Give me up some sort of sign. Not like sideline, but get me up here and give me a dribble handoff and attack that baby. Okay, but we gotta go. We gotta go right now. Okay.

Good.

Okay, speed it up. Yep. Speed it up, though. Okay. Got it right.

Away.

If I yell fire, we gotta foul anybody. Okay, we're down ten. We got to get going. Okay? We got to get going. All right, you guys got this. Let's go. We can shoot it. Let's go. One team on three. One. Two. Three. One. Team.

Coach. Storm in the huddle. Agreed to being mic'd up. Iowa PBS asked every coach if they wanted to be mic'd up. And coach Kochendorfer declined, as is his right. But we tried to bring you what we can and good insight there from Coach Storm.

Incredible. I love what he just did there and he's a terrific young coach and just a great job. And he said let's do dribble handoff. Let's attack the rim for the layup. And you might have a kick out for a three.

Big free throws for Horn. First one twirls the iron.

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This will be Saint Edmund's 20th free-throw attempt. And they've sent Marquette to the line just three times.

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Excuse me.

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Tonight. Got the second.

Marquette out of time-outs. That's going to hurt him. Here comes the handoff.

Ssmith to Carter. He drives Carter almost had the role. Koopman rebounds out to Gallas. He drives. Gallas is fouled on the floor and he'll shoot two.

I'm always an optimistic person, but it's going to be tough right now. It's going to be tough. You know, I wanted to mention coach K, coach over the John Wooden Award winner from the Ibca. This year. They select one men's coach, one girl's coach. And he was awarded that this year. And I've known him since 1995. When he came there, I was at Palmer. Palmer. Terrific man, terrific coach. And they hold on here, you know, congratulations to him. But congratulations to Marquette. They got a lot coming back. They got a lot coming back. So we're going to see them back here next year.

Dallas misses both. Roeder chucks it up. Strong offensive rebound Carter. He puts it up to short and a foul. Not called though. Horn's going to take it into the frontcourt now get fouled by Louis Gonner.

He's trying. To feeling it right now.

40 years as a head coach for Adolph Kochendorfer. 32 years at Saint Edmund. 11 times he has taken these Gaels to the state tournament. Six times he has taken them to the state title game, a champion with Saint Edmund in 2000 and 30s away from ending his 40 year career on top.

You can't go out any better than that. That's the way to go out. And he you know, he talked about when he was going to retire and he told me in my conversations with him, you know, I wanted I definitely was going to stay with this group. We've been together a long time. And you know, it's great to see this. And these seniors, they're all back from a year ago. And congratulations to Coach Coach Kochendorfer on his great, great career. Over 600 career wins.

Five seniors in the starting lineup for Saint Edmund. They were in the state tournament a year ago, lost to the eventual champion, Madrid, in the semifinals. A 12 point lead shot clock, dark, long one from Kueter rebound to Saint Edmund. The Gaels can dribble it out. A poetic end to a 40 year career for Saint Edmund's coach, K, and a poetic end for these five seniors. The Catholic school from Fort Dodge, Saint Edmund champions once again.

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What a second half for the Gaels to win it all.

I tell you, you made adjustments at halftime and you saw it. They took away Kueter and Smith from the AAC and then Jack McElroy defense on Louis Gonner and Gonner played a great floor game but took away his scoring and just a terrific job. And then they went inside and got to the free-throw line. Great adjustments. Congratulations to Marquette Catholic. Nothing to be ashamed of. Terrific team. They're young. They got some guys coming back. Like you said they got two juniors. Weber Gonner. And then you got Smith and Keator. And I look at the roster. They're going to be right in the hunt again next year.

Three straight trips to the state title game for Marquette Catholic, three straight heartbreaks. The Defenders had a seven point lead in the third quarter.

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But Saint Edmund goes on a run of all runs to start the fourth quarter and to win it all in the final game for head coach Adolph Kochendorfer.

Was selected by on the tournament's media. The captain earned the $500 grant from Farm Bureau to be used in their school's.

Student government program, presenting today's certificates are the Honorable Kim Reynolds, governor of the great state of Iowa, and Mr. Brant Johnson, president of the Iowa Farm Bureau.

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Let's meet the 2026 class 1A all tournament team. Justin Severson Marquette Catholic.

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From Mmcru Camden Balk.

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From Notre Dame. Shay Stevens.

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From Marquette Catholic Louis. Gunnar.

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And the captain of your all tournament team from Saint Edmund's. Hunter Horn.

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MVP.

Hunter Horn. What a performance. Over the course of this tournament. 21 points today. 17 points on Thursday. Excuse me. 27 points on Thursday. 17 on Tuesday. He's the captain of the all tournament team. And he along with his four seniors joining him in the starting lineup. Will Saint Edmund to a state championship 26 years after their first. And to this point, only state title in the year 2000, the Gaels of Saint Edmund are back on top.

It was a great game and great adjustments and Marquette Catholic great team. Like I said, they're going to be back. But congratulations to Saint Edmund.

The support of title sponsor the Iowa Farm Bureau, presenting our championship game honors our members of the IHSAA staff and Board of Control. Your runner up team finishes the 2026 season with a 25 and three record and their fourth finals appearance at the state basketball tournament. Please help us congratulate the student athletes, coaches and supporters from Marquette Catholic.

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And your 2026 Champion in class 1A finished with a record of 26 wins and two losses and have won their second state basketball title. Please help us in congratulating coach Adolf Kochendorfer and the Gaels of Saint Edmund.

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Tonight's quick star star of the game.

From is honored for.

Saint Edmund secures their second ever boys basketball state championship with a 54 to 42 win over Marquette Catholic on Championship Friday in Des Moines for Mitch Osborne and our entire incredible Iowa PBS crew, I've been Noah Wolf. Thanks so much for joining us for class 1A from Des Moines will return shortly for class 2A on your statewide network. Iowa PBS.

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