Falcons finish strong, beat Wolves in district semifinal 50-35

 COUNCIL BLUFFS (Feb. 25) -- The IKM-Manning boys basketball team entered last Tuesday’s halftime break tied 22-22 with St. Albert and feeling good about its first-half game plan.
 Offensively, the Wolves scored from inside and outside and had six players knock down at least one shot. Defensively, they slowed down the Falcons with a mix of diamond-and-one and 2-3 zone and were whistled for just one foul in 16 minutes.
 Unfortunately for IKM-Manning, the second half did not go nearly as smoothly.
 St. Albert opened the third quarter with a 9-0 run, hit four second-half threes and also scored in transition to pull away from the Wolves, 50-35, in a Class 1A, District 15 semifinal game.
 The Falcons (9-14) also beat Woodbine 52-43 in Thursday night’s district final before losing to fifth-ranked Remsen St. Mary’s 52-35 in the Substate 8 final on Saturday. IKM-M, which entered the St. Albert game on a six-game winning streak, finished 13-10 overall.
 “First half I thought we were right there,” said Wolves’ coach Keith Wagner. “I thought we missed some shots in close that if we could have finished... if we could have had a four or five-point lead at half instead of tied, that would have put a little more heat (on St. Albert). Maybe they would have started pressing a little bit more, but they didn’t. They were able to get off to a good start in the second half... and it seemed like we were always just kind of scrambling from behind from that point on.”
 The Wolves shot just 5-of-17 from the field after halftime and struggled to take care of the ball at times against the Falcons’ press and trapping defense.
 St. Albert’s three-point shooting was also pivotal. As a team, the Falcons are shooting 23 percent on the season from long range, but they made 8-of-24 (33 percent) vs. the Wolves. Ryan Hughes shot 5-of-10 from the arc, including two treys at the start of the fourth quarter that doubled a six-point Falcon lead to an insurmountable 40-28. Lance Wright added three treys in nine attempts and scored 13 points to go along with 15 from Hughes.
 Senior Colby Keller hit 3-of-7 threes and paced the Wolves with nine points. Parker Behrens scored eight, followed by Colten Brandt with six, Connor Keller five, Kyler Rasmussen four and Amos Rasmussen three.
 IKM-Manning's senior group includes three starters in Brandt, Behrens and Colby Keller and two reserves in Ben Lingle and Will Jorgensen.