Rebels hold off Royals to reach substate final

GRUNDY CENTER – This week will truly test the Gladbrook-Reinbeck boys' basketball team.
The Rebels survived their latest test in the district final against Colo-Nesco, coming out with a hard-fought 64-56 victory in Grundy Center.
Gladbrook-Reinbeck will play Wapsie Valley in a substate final in Cedar Falls on Saturday, with the winner advancing to the Class 1A state tournament. The Rebels will be looking for their third consecutive trip.
Joe Smoldt led all scorers with 37 points for the Rebels. Garret Tiarks led a trio of Colo-Nesco scorers in double digits with 16 points.
Colo-Nesco refused to fold after falling behind 14 early in the second quarter, rallying to tie the game and going into halftime only down two points, 36-34.
"(The Royals) played as hard as anyone we've played all season," G-R coach Scott Kiburis said. They had a good gameplan, going triangle-and-2 (defensively) which teams have run on us a few times but they tried to do some things different, and eventually Joe was able to get enough looks at the basket to get us going.
The third quarter went back-and-forth as both teams tried to push defensively. G-R finally came out ahead with some key stops in the fourth quarter, including on a pair of steals by Joe Smoldt, which kept an accurate shooting Colo-Nesco team from getting any closer. The Royals finished 17-of-30 (56.6 percent) inside the 3-point line and 22-of-45 (48.8 percent) overall.
"We have a couple of guys who haven't been in these types of big games," Smoldt said. "But it definitely gives confidence in myself and everyone else that if we can get a couple of stops we'll feel comfortable out there."