The Exira-EHK Spartans will take on the Turkey Valley Trojans in the Girls Class 1A State Semifinals on Thursday morning in Des Moines.  The Spartans are confident after a first round win over Sidney 58-43.  Exira-EHK Head Coach Tom Petersen thought his team responded well to adversity in the quarterfinal round. The Spartans active defense was a big part of the win over Sidney and Coach Petersen says they’ll have to do even better in the semis.

The Spartans face a tough challenge from last year’s Class 1A Runner-Up Turkey Valley who won their opening game against Janesville 60-58.  Coach Petersen talked about slowing down two strong scorers for the Trojans.

Sophia Peppers has been a big factor in Exira-EHK’s postseason run and she had another big game against Sidney with 22 points, 7 rebounds, 4 steals, and 4 assists. Coach Petersen said he expected her to step up and be the strong leader of the team. Peppers said her team is locked in and ready after the first round win.

We’ll have coverage of the Spartans and Trojans on KJAN Thursday morning. Chris Parks and Mike Smith will bring you pregame coverage at 10:45am with tip-off set for 11:45am.

Pairings and game times for the boys state basketball tournament were released on Wednesday afternoon.  In Class 3A the Atlantic Trojans drew the 8 seed and will face top seed Waverly-Shell Rock on Tuesday, March 7th at 2:00pm.  We’ll have coverage of the game on KJAN with pregame at 12:30pm.

Class 1A Quarterfinals

Monday, March 6th

(1) North Linn vs. (8) Maple Valley-Anthon-Oto 12:15pm
(4) Gladbrook-Reinbeck vs. (5) Lynnville-Sully 10:30am
(2) Grandview Christian vs. (7) West Hancock 3:45pm
(3) St. Mary’s, Remsen vs. (6) New London 2:00pm

Class 2A Quarterfinals

Monday, March 6th

(1) Western Christian vs. (8) South Hamilton 6:35pm
(4) Cascade, Western Dubuque vs. (5) Camanche 8:15pm

Tuesday, March 7th

(2) Pella Christian vs. (7) Van Meter 10:30am
(3) Kuemper Catholic vs. (6) Garner-Hayfield-Ventura 12:15pm

Class 3A Quarterfinals

Tuesday, March 7th

(1) Waverly-Shell Rock vs. (8) Atlantic 2:00pm
(4) Xavier, Cedar Rapids vs. (5) Mount Pleasant 3:45pm
(2) West Deleware, Manchester vs. (7) Dallas Center-Grimes 6:35pm
(3) Pella vs. (6) Sergeant Bluff-Luton 8:15pm

Class 4A Quarterfinals

(1) Iowa City West vs. (8) Newton 1:05pm
(4) Dubuque, Hempstead vs. (5) Cedar Rapids Kennedy 2:45pm
(2) Valley, West Des Moines vs. (7) Des Moines, North 8:15pm
(3) Bettendorf vs. (6) Sioux City East 6:35pm

Check out the full brackets here:

Class 1A

Class 2A

Class 3A

Class 4A

IAwrestle 2017 All-Junior Team

106- Grayson Kesterson – Williamsburg – 1st place (49-1)
113- Kyle Biscoglia – Waukee – 1st place (46-2)
120- Brody Teske – Fort Dodge – 1st place (46-0)
126- Alex Thomsen – Underwood – 1st place (45-0)
132- Matt Robertson – Assumption, Davenport – 1st place (43-1)
138- Nathan Lendt – Southeast Polk – 2nd place (36-6)
145- Grant Stotts – Valley, West Des Moines – 2nd place (40-4)
152- Nelson Brands – Iowa City West – 1st place (54-1)
160- Joel Shapiro – Valley, West Des Moines – 1st place (44-0)
170- Ben Sarasin – Cedar Rapids, Kennedy – 3rd place (34-2)
182- Anthony Sherry – Glenwood – 2nd place – (39-6)
195- Bryce Esmoil – West Liberty – 1st place (42-2)
220- Jordan Baumler – North Fayette Valley – 1st place (29-4)
285- John McConkey – Atlantic-CAM – 2nd place (53-4)

All-Sophomore Team

106- Cobe Siebrecht – Lisbon – 2nd place (48-7)
113- Aden Reeves – Albia – 1st place (52-1)
120- Joe Pins – Dubuque Hempstead – 3rd place (42-2)
126- Riley Wright – Denver-Tripoli – 3rd place (49-5)
132- Cade DeVos – Southeast Polk – 2nd place (42-3)
138- Kaleb Krall – Wapsie Valley – 1st place (45-2)
145- Mitchel Mangold – West Delaware – 3rd place (44-7)
152- Cael Krueger – Denver-Tripoli – 5th place (50-5)
160- John Henrich – Akron-Westfield – 1st place (43-0)
170- Kyler Fisher – Southeast Valley – 2nd place (48-4)
182- Garet Sims – Iowa Valley – 5th place (51-6)
195- Caleb Olson – Webster City – 8th place (24-9)
220- Dakoda Powell – Spirit Lake Park – 6th place (41-5)
285- Spencer Trenary – Clarion-Goldfield-Dows – 3rd place (17-1)

All-Freshman Team

106- Cullan Schriever – Mason City – 1st place (29-0)
113- Cael Happel – Lisbon – 1st place (53-3)
120- Eli Loyd – Pleasant Valley – 4th place (47-9)
126- Brock Espalin – Des Moines East – 5th place (41-10)
132- Ben Smith – Iowa Valley – State Qualifier (48-9)
138- Wade Mitchell – Woodbury Central – 5th place (44-14)
145- Chance Downs – Maquoketa Valley – 7th place (37-15)
152- Abe Michel – Maquoketa – District Qualifier (35-11)
160- Zach Williams – Osage – State Qualifier (35-25)
170- Nick Haynes – Missouri Valley – 7th place (54-9)
182- Gabe Christenson – Southeast Polk – 6th place (33-14)
195- Cody Fisher – Woodward Granger – 2nd place (46-6)
220- Gage Linahon – Newton – State Qualifier (10-8)
285- Bradley Tolley – Winterset – State Qualifier (34-17)

The 7:20-a.m. Sportscast w/Jim Field.

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Class 4-A Quarterfinals continue…

10:00-a.m.   Marion 46, Boone 38

11:45-a.m.    Pella (19-4) vs. Lewis Central (22-1)

Class 5-A Quarterfinals begin

1:30-p.m.    Indianola (23-0) vs. Johnston (19-4)

3:15-p.m.    Iowa City High (22-1) vs. Cedar Falls (21-2)

5:00-p.m.    West Des Moines Valley (21-2) vs. Dowling Catholic (19-4)

6:45-p.m.    Iowa City West (20-3) vs. Waukee (18-4)

Cascade,Western Dubuque 59, Central Decatur, Leon 56

Center Point-Urbana 56, Assumption, Davenport 50

Cherokee, Washington 70, Crestwood, Cresco 61

PAC-LM 46, Clear Lake 22

Sioux Center 71, PCM, Monroe 27

Cedar Rapids Xavier 60, Grinnell 55

North Scott, Eldridge 57, Nevada 27

4A Substate 1
Championship
Sioux City, East 79, Council Bluffs, Abraham Lincoln 63

4A Substate 2
Championship
Des Moines, North 88, Ankeny 68

4A Substate 3
Championship
Cedar Rapids, Kennedy 48, Cedar Falls 41

4A Substate 4
Championship
Dubuque, Hempstead 53, Dubuque, Senior 50

4A Substate 5
Championship
Iowa City West 83, Muscatine 44

4A Substate 6
Championship
Bettendorf 46, North Scott, Eldridge 44

4A Substate 7
Championship
Newton 48, Johnston 44

4A Substate 8
Championship
Valley, West Des Moines 45, Des Moines, Hoover 43, OT

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Senior Matt Thomas scored 25 points and No. 24 Iowa State held off a furious challenge from Oklahoma State on Tuesday night, winning 86-83 to close out its home schedule with its sixth straight win. Monte Morris added 12 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds for the Cyclones (20-9, 12-5 Big 12), who clinched their sixth consecutive 20-win season and swept the Cowboys for the fourth straight year.

Evans scored 29 points and Leyton Hammonds had 19 to lead Oklahoma State (20-10, 9-8), which lost for just the second time in 12 games. Morris forced a turnover under his own basket with 7.7 seconds left and Oklahoma State looking for a game-tying 3 — and Thomas hit an easy layup off Morris’ inbounds pass. Oklahoma State’s Juwan Evans then hit a 3, but Donovan Jackson hit a free throw and Evans couldn’t get a desperation heave off before the buzzer.

Evans made Iowa State sweat it out though. He was fouled from 3-point range with 13.8 seconds to go and the Cowboys down four. Evans hit all three from the line, but Naz Mitrou-Long answered with two free throws to make it 83-80 5 seconds later.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – The Chiefs have released four-time Pro Bowl running back Jamaal Charles, clearing more than $6 million in salary cap space, a person familiar with the move tells The Associated Press.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity Tuesday because the move had not been announced.

Charles missed the start of last season after having surgery to repair a second torn ACL. He returned to play in three games, carrying 12 times for 40 yards with a touchdown, before having additional surgery on his knees forced him to miss the rest of the year.

The Chiefs needed to release Charles to create salary cap space to sign safety Eric Berry and guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif to contract extensions. Berry was finalizing a $78 million, six-year deal, and Duvernary-Tardif signed a $41.25 million, five-year contract.

Class 4A Substate Finals

Substate 1 @ Tyson Events Center, Sioux City: Sioux City East vs. Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln 7:00pm
Substate 2 @ Dallas Center-Grimes: Ankeny vs. Des Moines North 7:00pm
Substate 3 @ US Cellular Center, Cedar Rapids: Cedar Rapids Kennedy vs. Cedar Falls 8:00pm
Substate 4 @ Epworth, Western Dubuque: Dubuque, Senior vs. Dubuque, Hempstead 7:00pm
Substate 5 @ US Cellular Center, Cedar Rapids: Iowa City West vs. Muscatine 6:30pm
Substate 6 @ Davenport West: Bettendorf vs. North Scott, Eldridge 7:00pm
Substate 7 @ Des Moines Roosevelt: Newton vs. Johnston 7:00pm
Substate 8 @ Ankeny Centennial: Des Moines Hoover vs. WDM Valley 7:00pm