State, Here We Come

NOTE: This article was updated to include East Mills' quarterfinal opponent for next week. 

“I was like, please go in.”

That was the thought running through Noah Meyer’s head as he put up a potentially game-tying shot with less than a second to go in regulation of East Mills’ Class 1A substate final versus Nodaway Valley. 

After bouncing around the rim, Meyer’s request was answered and his shot fell through the hoop, sending the game into overtime where the Wolverines out-scored Nodaway Valley in the extra-frame 7-6 in a 66-65 victory in Atlantic Saturday. The win puts East Mills into next week’s state tournament at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Meyer’s putback bucket came as it was the final opportunity at the time for East Mills to extend its season. 

Michael Story received the inbounds pass and immediately took the shot, with Meyer snagging the rebound.

“The play was not designed for the Story kid to get the ball, but when he got it, he attacked,” East Mills coach Kevin Schafer said after the game.

Story’s shot missed, but both Meyer and Keegan Wederquist were there to help with the rebound.

“We both went up for the rebound and he got it before I did,” Wederquist said.

With time running out, Meyer immediately shot the ball.

“I thought [Story] was going to make it, unfortunately he didn’t, he told me to go for all the rebounds I could get and I got them,” Meyer said.

In overtime, East Mills struck first thanks to a Wederquist lay-up with 2:53 to go. 

“When we took them to overtime,” Wederquist said. “We knew we could get this game.”

Meyer followed up again with another basket with 1:05 to go and soon East Mills had a 63-59 lead.

Nodaway Valley struggled to score during the extra frame. 

East Mills guard Jacob Schafer was fouled and sent to the line with 26.4 seconds to go. Schafer made both free throws to push the Wolverines’ lead to 65-59. The Wolverines got the ball back again following a Nodaway Valley miss and Schafer was fouled with 12.1 seconds to go. He made one of two free throws and to make the lead 66-59.

“I don’t know how sure they were before the game, but you could see the confidence grow as the game progressed,” Coach Schafer said. “They were believing as the game went on that we could play with these guys.”

Nodaway Valley’s first points of the overtime came with 5.8 seconds left as a three pointer trimmed the lead 66-62. 

An East Mills turnover on the ensuing inbounds play immediately gave Nodaway Valley possession. 

They wasted little time getting another three-pointer trimming the lead 66-65 with  2.5 seconds to go. 

“My heart sank a little bit,” Wederquist said of watching Nodaway Valley hit their second three pointer in the final 10 seconds. “There was still time left on the clock, I knew we had to get it done.”

The focus for East Mills was to get the ball inbounds, preferably further down the court and try to run off the final ticks with Story throwing it in.

“Story’s job was, if somebody was wide open, get them the ball, and otherwise just heave it,” Schafer said. “Noah’s job was to make sure it doesn’t go out of bounds.”

Story launched a Hail Mary down the court and Meyer was able to grab the pass and the junior was quickly fouled with 1.2 seconds left.

“I just wanted to keep it in the court,” Meyer said.

Meyer missed the front end of the 1-and-1, leaving little time for Nodaway Valley to get up court and fire off a desperation heave that clanged off clinching the win for East Mills.

“It feels amazing. We talked about it at the beginning of the season and we kept our hopes up and we got here,” Meyer said.

For the first four quarter, East Mills had gone back and forth with Nodaway Valley leading by as many as nine in the first quarter. But the Wolverines recovered to score 14 of the next 17 points to take a 22-20 lead at the end of a wild first quarter.

“We were fortunate that they cooled off,” Schafer said about the early Nodaway Valley scoring.

Nodaway Valley worked out to another lead during the second quarter. A scary moment occurred during the quarter as Wolverine guard Logan Currin rolled his ankle with more than five minutes until halftime. Currin sat out for a few minutes, but returned later in the game.

“I’d take a hurt ankle for state any day,” Currin said.

Hobbled with the injury, Currin was able to power through when his team needed him, scoring key buckets during the third and fourth quarter.

“He asked out a couple of times, but he ran right back in, he just needed a breather. He gutted it out,” Schafer said of his junior guard. “Fortunately, it wasn’t so bad that he couldn’t play, because I don’t know if we could have done it without him.”

Currin, who along with Wederquist scored a team-high 14 points, also had the unenviable task of guarding Nodaway Valley senior T.J. Bower, who entered Saturday averaging a team-best 20.3 points per game.

“Having him on defense against was tough, but I did what I had to do to get the win,” Currin said.

This will be the first state tournament appearance for East Mills, the result of a merger between Malvern and Nishna Valley. Nishna Valley last made the state tournament in 1993. Schafer was the head coach of that team, which lost during first round to eventual state champion Hudson, 66-59.

 “I was a new coach, not a very good coach, to be honest with you,” Schafer said. “We just had so much talent. With the tradition Nishna Valley had at the time, I thought well, I’ll be back. It won’t be many more years before we’re back.”

East Mills' state quarterfinal opponent has been determined. They will face Dunkerton next Monday at 2 p.m.