WICHITA, Kan. — Ben Smith scored 18 points to lead a balanced offense and help No. 19 Wichita State beat Drake 81-58 on Saturday.

Wichita State (26-4, 16-2 Missouri Valley) had already clinched the Missouri Valley championship entering Saturday, but celebrated its first title since 2006 with a victory to complete a 16-2 season.  The Shockers also avenged their only loss, a 93-86 triple-overtime thriller at Drake on Jan. 28, in their last 17 games.

Ben Simons scored 21 points, hitting seven 3-pointers, to lead the Bulldogs (16-14, 9-9).The teams traded runs in the first half, but Wichita State scored the last seven points of the half to take a 36-25 lead.Wichita State led by as many as 27 points in the second half.

CLASS 1-A First Round

Monday: Ar-We-Va (21-3) vs. Bedford (24-1), 10 a.m. LeMars Gehlen (20-4) vs. North Butler (21-1), 11:45 a.m. West Sioux (24-1) vs. Lynnville-Sully (23-2), 1:30 p.m. North Tama (21-4) vs. North Mahaska (25-0), 5 p.m.

CLASS 2-A First Round

Monday: Esterville-Lincoln Central (24-2) vs. Hull Western Christian (22-3), 6:45 p.m. West marchall (20-5), OA-BCIG (25-0), 8:30 p.m.

Tuesday: Pella Christian (21-3) vs. West Hancock (25-0), 10 a.m. Bellevue (25-0) vs. IKM-Manning (23-2), 11:45 a.m.

CLASS 3-A First Round

Tuesday: Dubuque Wahlert (20-4) vs. Sioux City Heelan (23-1), 1:30 p.m. Bondurant-Farrar (22-2) vs. MOC-Floyd Valley (25-0), 5 p.m. Glenwood (22-1) vs. Davenport Assumption (22-2), 6:45 p.m. Ballard (18-6) vs. Benton (24-0), 8:30 p.m.

CLASS 4-A First Round

Wednesday: Iowa City High (17-6) vs. Iowa City West (22-1), 10 a.m. Waukee (19-5) vs. Mason City (21-2), 11:45 a.m. Cedar Rapids Xavier (18-5) vs. Ankeny (20-3), 1:30 p.m. Ames (16-7) vs. Southeast Polk (23-1), 5 p.m.

Class 1A Substate Finals Saturday, February 25

• St. Albert, Council Bluffs (13-10) vs. West Monona, Onawa (18-6) at Abraham Lincoln, Council Bluffs. 7pm.
• St. Mary’s, Storm Lake (24-0) vs. Guthrie Center (15-9) at Ft. Dodge 7pm.
• Nodaway Valley (21-2) vs. Exira/EH-K (22-1) at SWCC in Creston 7pm.  (Live on KJAN AM 1220, FM 101.1, and kjan.com.  Pregame 6:45pm, Tipoff 7:00pm.)

Class 2A Substate Finals Saturday, February 25

• Clarinda (18-4) vs. Kuemper Catholic, Carroll (17-7) at Harlan 7pm.

Class 3A Substate Finals Monday, February 27

• Bishop Heelan Catholic, Sioux City (16-6) vs. Harlan (17-6) at Denison-Schleswig 7pm.
• Dallas Center-Grimes (21-3) vs. ADM, Adel (20-3) at Johnston 7pm.

Class 4A Substate Final Tuesday, February 28

• Sioux City East vs. Lewis Central, Council Bluffs at Tyson Event Center in Sioux City 7pm.

w/ Chris Parks

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (6.0MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Friday Women’s

• Creighton 74, Northern Iowa 48
• Drake 77, Bradley 65

Saturday Women’s

• Iowa State at Oklahoma State at Gallagher-Iba Arena,  7pm.

Sunday Women’s

• Iowa vs. Michigan at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, 2pm.

Saturday Men’s

• Iowa State at Kansas State at Bramlage Coliseum, 12:45pm.
• UNI at Southern Illinois at SIU Arena at 2pm.
• Drake at Wichita State at Koch Arena at 12:30pm

Sunday Men’s

• Iowa at Illinois at Assembly Hall at 5pm. (Live on KJAN at 4:00pm with pregame)

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – Iowa might be a longshot for a spot in the NIT, let alone the NCAA tournament.
 
     Yet the Hawkeyes are sure an intriguing postseason case study.
 
     Iowa (15-13, 7-8 Big Ten) has posted four wins over ranked opponents since Big Ten play began. Two of those have come in the past five days, including Thursday night’s rousing 67-66 victory over No. 16 Wisconsin.
 
     The Hawkeyes entered the game against the Badgers with an RPI of 136, not likely to be an attractive number to the NCAA tournament selection committee. But Iowa is in seventh place in the rugged, 12-team Big Ten, with three games remaining in the regular season.

BOYS BASKETBALL

1A District 2 Substate 1

Dunlap Boyer Valley 46, Onawa West Monona 42

1A District 3 Substate 2

Kingsley-Pierson 66, Le Mars Gehlen Catholic 55

1A District 4 Substate 2

Boyden-Hull 63, Rock Rapids Central Lyon 43

1A District 5 Substate 3

Storm Lake St. Mary’s 55, Harris-Lake Park 52

1A District 7 Substate 4

Buffalo Center North Iowa 57, Blairsburg NE Hamilton 50

3A District 1 Substate 1 Semifinal

Sioux City Heelan 58, Carroll 43

4A Substate 1 Semifinal

Council Bluffs Lewis Central 66, Sioux City North 64, OT

Sioux City East 84, Sioux City West 38

According to a press release issued late Friday afternoon by Atlantic Assistant Principal/Activities Director Josh Rasmussen, Tim Duff has resigned from his position of Head Varsity Football Coach for the Atlantic Community School District.  Tim has served as Atlantic’s Head Coach during the 2010 and 2011 football seasons.  In the 2011 season, Coach Duff led the Trojans to a 4-6 record, which ended in a 17-7 first round playoff loss to Boyden Hull Rock Valley.

Coach Duff will continue to teach and coach for the Atlantic Community School District.  Coach Duff has a record of 6-13 while serving as Atlantic’s Head Football Coach.

There is currently no word on the search for a successor.

JUPITER, Fla. (AP) — Mike Matheny fields the question that comes pretty much on a daily basis with the dexterity of the four-time Gold Glove catcher he used to be.

He insists there is no point trying to replace Tony La Russa. Just like there’s no point trying to replicate Albert Pujols’ bat.

What Matheny promises is he’ll work nonstop to keep the St. Louis Cardinals among baseball’s elite. He isn’t interested in comparisons with La Russa, who retired just a handful of wins away from being the second-winningest manager in history.

Matheny says he sees no sense of satisfaction with players who won the World Series last fall, noting that most reported well ahead of Friday’s first full-squad workout.