Unfortunately for the Nodaway Valley boys basketball team, their quest to reach 19-6 and a trip to the state tournament ended last night as the Wolverines fell to the IKM-Manning Wolves 65-60.

Last night’s match up was a back and fourth game with more than 10 lead changes during the contest. The largest lead either team had was a 7 point lead by Nodaway Valley in the first quarter thanks to an 11-0 run by the Wolverines. Nodaway Valley led after each of the first three quarters but when the fourth and final quarter ended, the Wolves had taken the final lead thanks to 7 made free throws by IKM-Manning’s Jared Volstedt in the last 30 seconds of play to put the game out of reach.

The Wolverines looked poised to take the win but a 0-7 spell from the floor for class 1A’s scoring leader Jackson Lamb late in the game, combined with IKM-Manning’s Ben Wegner and his 14 point second half performance put the Wolves slightly ahead towards the final minutes in the fourth quarter. Nodaway Valley had a tough time scoring in the paint offensively and couldn’t manage to stop the IKM-Manning’s paint dominance on defense.

Leading the way scoring for the Wolves was junior Ben Wegner putting up a dominant paint performance with 27 points on the night, the vast majority of which came from withing 5 feet of the basket. Right behind Wegner was senior Jared Volstedt with 12 points on the night.

Leading the way for the Wolverines was senior Jackson Lamb with 20 points as he ends his basketball career at Nodaway Valley with 1,654 career points. Two Wolverines tied for second in the game in scoring as both Nate Venteicher and Spencer Lamb notched 12 points on the night.

The Nodaway Valley Wolverines end their season at 18-7 while the IKM-Manning Wolves earn their 22nd win on the season and a trip to the state tournament at the Wells Fargo Arena.