South O’Brien couldn’t have asked to for a better start to the tournament portion of the season. The Wolverines jumped out in front of Trinity Christian 27-9 through one quarter of play on the way to a 76-39 victory in a Class 1A District 1 quarterfinal game played February 17 at Paullina.
The winners shot 51 percent from the field with 27 baskets in 53 tries. They hit on seven of their 18 trey attempts and missed only three of their 18 free throw chances. The Tigers were held to 23 percent shooting (13-of-56). They made five of their 22 three-point tries and were 8-of-13 at the foul line.
The Wolverines got 18 points from Derek Paulsen, 12 from Brody Van Beek, 10 from both Gabe Moermond and Jaden Kreber, eight from Reese Lundquist, five from Brady Riedemann, four from both Caden Wittrock and Brett Evans, three from Alex Griebel and two from Austin Negus. Riedemann was the assists leader with four while Moermond, Kreber, Paulsen, Lundquist and Van Beek each contributed two assists.
South O’Brien finished with a 33-21 rebounding advantage thanks in part to the eight boards from Lundquist, the five from Kreber and the four from Wittrock. Paulsen made eight steals and Van Beek came away with an additional three. Trinity was guilty of 12 turnovers while the Wolverines turned the ball over 15 times. Lundquist blocked two shots, Kreber and Brennan Billick one each.
Trinity
9 11 9 10 – 39
S. O’Brien
27 18 18 13 – 76