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After district title, ‘something to prove’
by Gregory R. Norfleet · Sports · November 23, 2017


Coming off a season that earned a district title, West Branch’s boys basketball team must find players who can make up for the 25 points-per-game average lost with Cooper Kabela’s graduation.


The Bears return four of its starters — Beau Cornwell, Tanner Lukavsky, Ben Thompson and Brett Schiele — and five others with varsity minutes.

Head Coach Tom Burger said he enters the season with “a good feeling.”

“We have a lot of people back,” he said.

Kabela played varsity for four years and started for three, setting a school record with points in a season (572) and coming in second for career points (1,245) to 2013 graduate Rylan Murry with 1,629.

“He’s going to be hard to replace,” Burger said.

And for West Branch to try again for a run at state, the Bears must work harder still. River Valley Conference foes from last season earned their status among the best by spreading the ball around, and only a couple lost their best players to graduation.

Tipton had five 100-plus-point players and lost its No. 3 (Dauton Mente with 145) and No. 5 (Zach Ford with 106) but return Logan Hoffman (546 points), Andrew Stewart (367) and Jacob Tischuk (113).

Regina probably brings the biggest threat this year, losing only one of its six top scorers, No. 6 Sam Stein (126 points). All five starters return for the Regals: Jocoa Kerschen (277), Even Brauns (228), Mason Miller (184), Jake Phillipps (170) and Ryne Schooley (163.)

Durant counted seven players with more than 100 points, with graduation taking its No. 1 scorer (Luke Whitlock with 267) and its No. 4 (Jake Conley with 137). They return Mason Compton (155), Josh Hein (143), Easton Botkins (123), Joe Lilenthal (117) and Bryce Lafrenz (112).

Mid-Prairie got hit the hardest, losing its top three scorers to graduation: Caleb Statler (212 points), Derek Rich (193) and Carter Reinier (185). The Golden Hawks return Brad Tornow (158) Tom Butters (135) and Kyle Miller (100).

So where does that leave West Branch?

Returning starters for 2017-18 begin with junior Beau Cornwell, who finished last season with 460 points. Senior Ben Thompson is coming off a 217-point season. Sophomore Tanner Lukavsky comes with with 113 points. Junior Brett Schiele earned 95 points and junior Ted Bridges earned 80 points last year.

The Bears top five returning scorers contributed 40.7 points per game.

Regina’s top returning scorers bring in 49 ppg, Tipton comes in second with 42.8, Durant comes in fourth with 31.4 and Mid-Prairie comes in way down with 16.4 ppg.

Burger said he expects Cornwell and Thompson to lead the team as they enter the season, not only with points but consistent play. T. Lukavsky, who he said had a good off-season in club ball, and Bridges look like they are ready to start as well.

That fifth starter remained uncertain, he said. Schiele has a strong chance looking at last year’s performance alone. Yet Burger said B. Lukavsky and Cade Aspelmeier “and a couple of sophomores” all have a chance from what they have shown so far in practice.

“I hope (sophomore) Trey (Eagle) can give us some good minutes,” he said. “He had a good JV season last year.”

One of the challenges, the coach said, is that West Branch “does not have a lot of height.”

“The first few practices were really good,” Burger said. “The top 15 guys were really getting after each other in practice. When we have to make up 25 points a game, their effort was a good way to do that. The mindset is right there.”

The top team from last year expects to “have a target on their back,” the coach said.

“They’ve got something to prove,” Burger said. “We were picked to win South last year and did.”

Burger said Regina and Tipton bring the most depth into the season. He noted that Hoffman was the second-highest scorer behind Kabela.

“He’s obviously a force,” the coach said.

Stewart’s 367 points came as a sophomore for the Tigers, he noted, and a couple other rising players make Tipton one of the River Valley South favorites.

Regina’s top scorer, Kerschen, is expected to do more for the team this season, and Burger noted that the Regals’ next two scorers — Brauns and Miller — were both freshmen last season.

“And Kerschen is one of the finest pure shooters … (making Regina) with the most talent of most anybody,” the Bears coach said.

West Branch played Durant twice last season, beating them by 12 to 13 points each time, though Burger said the Wildcats “played tough.”

As for Mid-Prairie, West Branch made easy work of them in two match-ups last season.

“But you can never count anybody out,” Burger said. “And I’m not even talking about (RVC) North yet.”

Last season, West Branch brought one of the most balanced teams in the RVC. From free throws to field goals to three-pointers, whether percentages made or total attempts, the Bears ranked in the top three in every category.

“We had a very unselfish group last year,” the coach said. “We knew if we got the ball to Cooper or Beau, good things were going to happen.”

That also meant that when defenses moved in on those two, the ball would get kicked out to other West Branch players, giving them an opportunity to get on the board.

“Other kids knew their points would come,” Burger said.

He said the team’s full-court pressure worked well, too.

“That got us a lot of easy baskets early,” he said.

The Bears coach is curious how opponents will handle Cornwell. Will he get double-teamed?

“I thought last year we would see a lot of triangle-and-two on Kabela and him,” the coach said, but only two teams did that. “We’ll prepare for it, definitely, but I don’t know what people will do. I would think they would put a focus on him.”

Burger said none of the new Iowa High School Athletic Association rules seem significant this year, other than enlarging the coach’s box. However, he is interested to see how the state organization plans to place teams when district competition begins.

The teams will this year meet at a central location to determine seeds. Records still play heavily into that, but the coaches can consider schedule strength, too.

Since the Bears are in Class 2A, a loss to a 3A team would not hurt much, if at all, but a loss to a .500 Class 1A team would.