Boys high school basketball teams from across Iowa and the Omaha Metro area gathered together to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day with some intense competition on the court as Council Bluffs (Iowa) Abraham Lincoln hosted the A1 Auto MLK Classic Monday.
The event featured three games between Iowa and Nebraska teams and two all-Iowa matchups. Two additional games featuring Nebraska teams were on the original schedule, but the intense cold weather across the Midwest led to a pair of cancellations.
“Any chance that we can bring really good basketball to the area, I’m all about it,” Abraham Lincoln head coach and event organizer Jason Isaacson said. “And then just try to use some of our connections to Iowa to bring in some different teams, different high-level players for our area to get to watch and enjoy.”
This is the second year of the event, and Isaacson is hoping to see it continue for years to come.
“It’s been awesome,” Isaacson said. “Our administration, my AD has been great working with us. Council Bluff has been great. We helped provide some hotels for some of these teams that are traveling far. I really hope it keeps growing and can be a good event for our area.”
Game 1: Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln (Iowa) 50, Gretna 46
The young Dragons put up a great fight, answering twice when Abraham Lincoln threatened to pull away, but in the end the Lynx and senior center Creighton Bracker were too much to overcome.
Bracker, a Morningside commit, put up 20 of his game-high 26 points in the second half. With a two-point lead early in the fourth quarter, Bracker converted a three-point play, fouling out Gretna’s top scorer in the process, then found Braylin De Jager in the corner for a 3 to extend the lead.
Gretna cut the lead down to two twice in the final seconds, but Abraham Lincoln hit its free throws to seal the victory.
Bracker shot 8-of-13 from the field (2-of-3 from 3) and 8-of-10 from the line while pulling down eight rebounds. De Jager hit three triples in the game to chip in nine points.
Junior Treven Wilkins led Gretna with 17 points on 7-of-12 from the field (1-of-2 from deep) and 2-of-2 from the stripe plus seven rebounds. Junior Brandtley Hack matched him with 17 points, shooting 5-of-8 from the field, 3-of-4 from 3 and 4-of-5 from the foul line.
Game2: Decorah (Iowa) 77, Sergeant Bluff-Luton (Iowa) 63
The game was close at halftime, but the Decorah Vikings pulled away in the second half for a comfortable win after making the five-hour trip across the state to participate in the event.
Cael LaFrentz, a 6-foot-10 junior, was far too much for the Warriors to handle. The son of former NBA player Raef LaFrentz — an assistant coach for Decorah — finished with 33 points. The tall but slender center did a great job of keeping the ball high on the catch and showed a soft touch with a flurry of short jumpers in addition to a few put-backs.
Senior guard Zach Driscoll added 23 points for the Vikings.
Sophomore Ajay Vander Schaaf led the Warriors with 19 points while fellow sophomore Brody Van Kalsbeek added 11 points.
Game 3: Millard South 78, Keokuk (IA) 51
Keokuk hit four 3s in the first quarter to keep up with Millard South, but the Chiefs went 0-for-8 the rest of the way and the Patriots, who hit 14 3s in the game, steadily pulled away for the blowout victory.
Senior Bernie Anderson opened the fourth quarter with a flurry of 3s to bury the Chiefs for good. He finished with a game-high 22 points on 8-of-13 shooting including 6-of-10 from deep.
Senior Tyler Albert busted Keokuk’s zone early. After missing his first three looks from deep, he caught fire, hitting his next four shots including a four-pointy play. He finished with 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting (3-of-7 from 3), four rebounds and two steals.
Junior Koby Meyers stuffed the stat sheet with 13 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Junior Isaac Jensen added 12 points on 5-of-9 from the field (2-of-4 from 3), six rebounds and three steals off the bench.
Tramell Smith led Keokuk with 13 points while 6-foot-10 junior Jaxon Clark added 12 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks.
Back in the win column ✔️
Millard South takes care of Keokuk (IA) 78-51 and moves to 11-6 overall. #nebpreps | @hoopsMS pic.twitter.com/oGeM73NpwP
— nebpreps (@THEnebpreps) January 20, 2025
Game 4: Waukee Northwest (IA) 95, Bellevue West 64
Bellevue West hung with Northwest for two and a half quarters, but the Wolves’ size, physicality and firepower proved to be too much as Northwest stretched it out late.
The Wolves shot 72.2% from the field for the game and saw six players score eight or more points.
The Thunderbirds had no answer for senior guard Bode Goodman. He went off for 30 points on 13-of-18 from the field (2-of-3 from 3) and 2-of-3 from the line, nine rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Junior Colin Rice got the Wolves off to a good start, scoring 10 of his 20 points in the first quarter and finishing 9-of-13 from the field with an and-one. Senior Peyton McCollum scored 16 of his 18 points after halftime and didn’t miss a shot, finishing 6-of-6 from the field and 6-of-6 from the line.
Senior Robby Garcia led Bellevue West with 18 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two blocks, surpassing 1,000 career points in the process.
Sophomore Brayden Mauro added 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting including 4-of-8 from deep. He’s totaled 40 points in his last two games, shooting 10-of-15 from 3-point range.
Game 5: Treynor (IA) 51, Woodbine (IA) 33
The final game of the day was all Treynor from the opening tip. The Cardinals opened the game with a 14-0 run and continued to dominate the rest of the way to hand the Tigers their first loss of the season.
Treynor led 20-4 after one, 34-10 at halftime and 47-17 after three quarters.
Jared Schwarte and Alec Lovely scored 10 points apiece while Peter Young added nine as part of a balanced attack from the Cardinals.
Sophomore Landon Blum led Woodbine with eight points.
