Polar Bears Make First State Appearance of 21st Century
The North Polar Bears basketball team celebrates with a State qualifier banner for the first time since 1991.
A funny thing happened during the introduction of the starting lineups for last night’s Substate final between Des Moines North and Ankeny high schools, played at Dallas Center-Grimes.
The first five Polar Bears announced didn’t include Tyreke Locure, North’s driveshaft and the #2 Class 4A scorer in the state. The oversight was corrected and Locure did indeed take the floor for the opening tip. In fact, he played all 32 minutes as the Bears Polarized the Ankeny Hawks, 88-68, to secure the school’s first state tourney berth since 1991.
But the inadvertent omission of Locure from the pregame intros turned out to be a foreshadow of things to come when he went scoreless during the first quarter and his more than able mates still built a 19-15 lead, led by nine points from Lino Manual.
The lead steadily grew from there in a game when North never trailed and avenged not only a regular season defeat that was their last of five against 18 victories, but also the sub-state loss that ended their season a year ago. Ankeny bowed out at 11-13 on the season after advancing to last night’s rematch with an upset of #2 ranked Waukee in a sub-state semifinal.
Locure would eventually make his dent in the scoring column with 20 points but Jal Bijiek paced the Polar Bears. #22 tallied 23, 15 of them coming from long range. The lanky and limber Bijiek is best known for his work around the basket where he likes to dunk on offense and swat enough shots on defense to become North’s all-time leading shot-blocker. But last night he netted five of North’s 13 three-pointers.
The lopsided score of the game afforded Locure and company the luxury of dribbling out its last minute unchallenged by the Ankeny defenders. The outcome foregone, the North fans, who filled one side of the gym to the top row, rose to their feet and gave their team the prolonged ovation it deserved.
Consider that no one on this team was even close to being born when North last made it to state. Coach Chad Ryan was only a year out of high school. Now the program he’s built from the ground up will take its high-flying, up-tempo act and a 12-game winning streak to the biggest basketball stage in the state, Wells Fargo Arena. It’s about time.
Meanwhile, Hoover High School was hoping for a trifecta of State basketball tournament appearances. After making it to State the past two years in a row, the Huskies came up two points and one second short of a third consecutive trip. Playing West Des Moines Valley in the Substate final game at Ankeny Centennial, Hoover came from behind to send the game to overtime. With exactly one second left in OT, a questionable foul was called that sent Valley to the free throw line and a 45-43 win.
Tomorrow night is Northside Night, an annual event that brings together choirs from all of the schools in the North High feeder pattern to sing with one voice in the high school auditorium. It’s become a full-throated, community-spirited celebration of lots of good things that are happening in that part of town these days. Maybe this year to the tune of an extra decibel or two.
NOTE: North will face West Des Moines Valley in their first round game on Wednesday, March 8 at 8:15 PM at Wells Fargo Arena. For more information about the State Tournament, including tickets and schedules, visit the Iowa High School Athletic Association web site.
