The Adel-DeSoto-Minburn Tigers clawed their way back using a fourth quarter rally to advance over Carroll to the Class 3A Region Championship.

The battle of the Tigers did not disappoint last night in Adel as two familiar foes out of the Raccoon River Conference faced off. ADM came into the game having beat Carroll twice during the regular season, but it was Carroll who got off to the quick start, leading 10-4. An early timeout was able to settle ADM down as they trailed 12-9 after the first. However, in the second, Carroll would push the lead to 22-12 before a big three was made from Senior Adam Bryte then Senior Rhylan Stine-Smith got to the free throw, converting on two prior to the break as Carroll still led 26-20.

Both teams couldn’t put the ball in the basketball for the first three minutes of the third, thanks to great defense both ways. ADM captured the first four, pulling them within two before a short spurt from Carroll’s Senior Evan Hammer to get it back to 30-24. A mini 6-2 run for ADM had them trailing 32-30 going into the fourth. Carroll began strong with a three pointer from Junior Stone Sibenaller and a bucket from Hammer to give Carroll a 37-30 lead with six minutes left. Then a couple of drives from Sophomore Hudson Lorensen to get to the free throw line and a big three from Stine-Smith tied the game at 37. A stop for ADM led to a runout and a wide open corner three from Sophomore Hudson Shull to give ADM the first lead of the game at 40-37 with under four minutes.

Carroll’s Hammer responded with a jumper cutting the deficit to one, then a huge three from Bryte pushed the cushion to four. An added free throw from Senior Grant Rychnovsky gave ADM a 44-39 advantage before Sibenaller got a layup to go plus a foul. The free throw was missed, leaving the score at 44-41 then the ADM crowd erupted after a dagger three was nailed in the corner from Lorensen to make it 47-41. ADM would go onto win 52-45, advancing to the Class 3A Substate 8 Region Championship game on Monday.

The top three scorers for ADM were Stine-Smith with 17, Lorensen had 16, and Bryte finished with 11. For Carroll, they were led by Hammer’s 17, Sophomore Mac Collison had some big shots finishing with nine (9) and Sibenaller tallied seven (7). Carroll graduates six seniors (Evan Hammer, Will Schultes, Caden Lengeling, Payton Wardell, and Caleb Vanderheiden), concluding the season at 12-11 overall.

ADM improves to 20-3 overall and will be playing another Raccoon River Conference opponent in Bondurant-Farrar Monday night at 8pm at a neutral site at Indianola High School. Raccoon Valley Radio will have the coverage on K1079 and the KKRF Mobile app.