• Photo Showcase: Iowa high school boys state basketball tournament Monday

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DES MOINES, Iowa — Unranked Council Bluffs St. Albert gave everything it had Monday at Wells Fargo Arena. Against defending Class 1-A champion Rock Valley and twin towers Jordan Dykstra and Marcus Heemstra, it wasn't nearly enough.

The 6-foot-9 South Dakota State recruits combined for 33 points, 17 rebounds and 18 assists — with Heemstra recording a triple-double — in the No. 3 Rockets' 86-67 win over the Falcons in the opening round of the state tournament.

If that wasn't enough, Rock Valley guard Nic Bakker scored a career-high 23 points while going 10 for 12 from the field as the fourth-seeded Rockets shot 65 percent from the floor while improving to 24-2.

“I really don't know if we could've played much better,” Rock Valley coach Heath Swanson said.

Heemstra finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists while Dykstra went for 17, seven and six as the Rockets advance to the semifinal round. They'll face Northern University High of Cedar Falls in a rematch of last year's 1-A championship game at 10:30 a.m. Thursday.

“That's an excellent, excellent basketball team,” said St. Albert coach Dale Scott, whose team finished at 18-5. “I don't care if it's 1-A or 4-A. That's a darn good basketball team.”

Fielding a lineup with no starters taller than 6-2, Scott said the Falcons' game plan revolved around getting Bakker to turn the ball over. He not only didn't do that, he hit eight consecutive shots after missing his first attempt. Bakker entered the tournament averaging just under six points per game on the season.

“I usually just take my shots when I'm open,” he said. “Today, I got a lot of those to drop.”

Bakker scored 10 points in the third quarter as the Rockets turned a six-point advantage into a 20-point cushion. It reached 30 by the time most of the starters left with 4:04 remaining in the game.

Seniors Andrew Brown and Jake Waters paced St. Albert with 16 and 15 points, respectively. Waters had 12 of his during the second period, when the Falcons scored 27 points on 11-of-16 shooting. The problem for St. Albert was that Rock Valley was 11 for 15 and also scored 27 in the quarter.

Waters cut the Rockets' lead to six at 40-34 by banking in a 3-pointer with seven seconds to go in the first half. But Nate VanGinkel returned the favor by going off the glass at the buzzer to make it a nine-point game at the break.

Steve O'Neill, who finished with 13 points, opened the second half with another 3 for the Falcons. Rock Valley then separated itself with seven straight points. The Rockets added a 10-1 run later in the period.

“We came out with every intention of winning the game,” Waters said. “They brought their A game today, and it was a little bit too much for us. They had a counter for everything we did.”

St. Albert (18-5).........................7 27 15 18 -- 67

Rock Valley (24-2)........................16 27 25 18 -- 86

• SA: Steve O'Neill 5-17 0-0 13, Jake Gentile 0-2 0-0 0, Mickey Russell 2-8 2-4 7, Andrew Brown 6-14 4-4 16, Jake Waters 6-16 2-2 15, Paul Johnson 0-1 0-0 0, J.D. Culjat 1-1 0-0 3, Nick VanSoelen 1-3 2-2 5, Gabe Meis 3-5 0-0 8, Nick Rew 0-0 0-0 0, Collin McBride 0-0 0-0 0, Jesse Parks 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-67 10-12 67.

• RV: Blake Kooima 1-3 0-0 3, Nic Bakker 10-12 0-2 23, Nate VanGinkel 5-8 0-1 11, Jordan Dykstra 8-11 1-3 17, Marcus Heemstra 6-11 4-5 16, Nate Elbers 0-1 0-0 0, Jordan VanBeek 2-3 0-0 4, Austin Koehler 0-1 0-0 0, Matt Westra 0-0 0-0 0, Mike DeRuyter 0-0 0-0 0, Chris Zylstra 3-3 0-0 6, Keaton Grevengoed 1-2 0-0 2, Trey VanMaanen 1-2 2-2 4, Michael Oliver 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 37-57 7-13 86.

• 3-point goals: SA 9-29 (O'Neill 3-11, Russell 1-4, Brown 0-2, Waters 1-4, Johnson 0-1, Culjat 1-1, VanSoelen 1-3, Meis 2-3), RV 5-10
(Kooima 1-3, Bakker 3-4, VanGinkel 1-2, Dykstra 0-1). Rebounds: SA 32 (Russell 9), RV 36 (Heemstra 10). Assists: SA 15 (Waters 5), RV 31
(Heemstra 12). Turnovers: SA 10, RV 11. Total fouls: SA 17, RV 11. Fouled out: None. Technicals: Brown.

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