![sports head basketball championship crazy games sports head basketball championship crazy games](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/TptLywv4RQc/maxresdefault.jpg)
“Really, really proud of this group,” said Hilmer. North Linn won very late in the regular season at Bellevue, 69-60, which is the Defenders lone loss. The title game opponent this year in a familiar one in Bellevue Marquette, which beat Lake Mills on a last-second shot in the other 1A semifinal. “It’s amazing being a leader on this team, a senior and being in the championship game again,” Pflughaupt said. It was primarily the Bechen-Pflughaupt show in the fourth quarter as North Linn officially put this one to bed. The advantage steadily climbed in the second half, to 46-38 after three quarters when Breckyn Betenbender hit a late lane drive. A Bechen 3-pointer right at the buzzer gave the Lynx a 25-20 halftime lead. Winfield-Mount Union (21-3) led through the first quarter and into the second before North Linn (25-1) started hitting shots, which allowed it to get into its full-court pressure defense. Obviously they were a lot bigger than we are, so you had to put a body on them every time and go get the ball.” “I knew I had to match their physicality if we were going to win this game. “I knew Coach would need me to come off the bench being he was in foul trouble,” Ries said. Winfield-Mount Union’s lineup consisted of a 6-6 guy and two 6-4 dudes. When he had to sit, Drew Ries did a great job filling in for him, scoring seven points and pulling down six rebounds in just 12 minutes. Ty Pflughaupt has been North Linn’s other primary scorer this season and he added 18 points in this game despite incurring some foul trouble. Union at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa on Wednesday, March 6, 2024. North Linn's Mason Bechen (20) shoots during an Iowa Class 1A boys’ state basketball tournament semifinal game between North Linn and Winfield-Mt. He’s hitting the open guy when he’s open, he’s driving when the lane it’s there. Early in the season he got bottled up quite a bit trying to do too much. “Mason is doing a super job of knowing when you get rid of the ball and when to attack,” said North Linn Coach Mike Hilmer. That total took the junior guard over 1,000 points for his three-year career.