The Nodaway Valley boys basketball team was eliminated by Gladbrook-Reinbeck (26-0) in the first round of the Boys State Basketball Tournament on Monday morning. The Wolverines (19-7) fell by a score of 57-80, but the game looked bleak after just one quarter when Nodaway Valley trailed 3 to 17. Jackson Lamb had a double-double for Nodaway Valley, scoring 19 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Lamb’s performance wasn’t enough to counteract Gladbrook-Reinbeck’s two leading scorers. Joe Smoldt had 31 points for Gladbrook-Reinbeck; Camden Kickbush scored 24.

Coach Darrell Burmeister of Nodaway Valley says the opposing performances of Smoldt and Kickbush led to his team’s downfall. “We ran into a pretty good shooting team. We knew those were their best shooting players, number ten and twenty. We tried to match up with them out of our zone, but we were a little late on times, and they really stepped it up out there.”

Gladbrook-Reinbeck will face Earlham in the second round of the state tournament on Thursday morning.