When South O’Brien and MMCRU were meeting in the rubber match February 20 at Cherokee the stakes were high. On the line was a trip to the Substate game. Each squad had beaten the other as the home team. In this match-up on a neutral court South O’Brien got off to a 7-0 lead and never trailed in winning the Class 1A District 2 Final 57-44.
Also winning a District Final was North Union. The Warriors joined South O’Brien at 21-3 by defeating Fort Dodge St. Edmond 54-51. The Substate game between the Wolverines and North Union was played Saturday at Spencer (see separate article). South O’Brien last played in a Substate game in 2020 and also made appearances in 2015, 2016 (state champs), 2018 and 2019. 
In the District Final, the Wolverines’ lead was 14-7 after one quarter. They were up 21-10 before the Royals trimmed the margin to five at 23-18. Willie Conley responded with a basket and when Derek Paulsen nailed a corner three-pointer at the buzzer South O’Brien was up by 10 going into halftime.
MMCRU drew within seven points at 39-32 with a little over three minutes remaining in the third quarter. Again it was a Conley bucket that stemmed the tide and then David Bottjen connected from behind the three point line. The result was a 44-32 lead for the Wolverines after three. South O’Brien then pushed its advantage to 16 points. Despite several Wolverine turnovers midway through the fourth, the lead never dipped below 12 the rest of the way.
“We had great defensive intensity for all 32 minutes,” commented South O’Brien head coach Kiley Yates. “We defensive rebounded very well. We hit timely shots and offensive rebounded our misses. We took care of the ball late to run down the shot clock and we made free throws.”
Conley finished with 16 points and Paulsen with fourteen. The Wolverines got nine points from Ben Woodall, eight from Bottjen, seven from Jaden Kreber and three from Justice Frerk. Helping to keep everyone involved were Conley with four assists and Woodall with three.
South O’Brien was 20-of-55 from the field for 36 percent. The team was 7-of-25 from beyond the arc and 10-of-17 at the free throw line. MMCRU shot a slightly better 39 percent with 17 field goals in 44 tries. The Royals made five of their 15 three-point attempts and five of nine charity tosses.
The victors came away with 13 steals. Conley and Bottjen led the way with four thefts apiece. MMCRU turned the ball over 15 times while the Wolverines limited their turnover total to seven.
South O’Brien won the battle of the boards 34-27. Contributing to that victory were Woodall with seven rebounds, Bottjen with six and Reese Lundquist and Conley with five each.
MMCRU
7 11 14 12 – 44
S. O’Brien
14 14 16 13 – 57