Waukon boys basketball team has season brought to an end with 55-49 District finals loss to now State-bound Dyersville Beckman


Throwing it down ... Waukon boys basketball senior Creed Welch throws down a dunk in the Indians’ 55-49 loss to Dyersville Beckman in the Class 2A District 7 finals played at West Delaware High School Tuesday, February 23. Welch scored nine points, grabbed six rebounds to share board honors with senior Ethan O’Neill and recorded a team-high four assists, three steals and one blocked shot. View and find out how to purchase this photo and many more by clicking on the Photo Galleries link on this webpage.

Only one team has been able to beat the Waukon boys basketball squad in its past 13 games since the first week of January. Unfortunately, that team from now State Tournament bound Dyersville Beckman has handed the Indians two losses in that timeframe, and, most unfortunately, the second of those losses brought an end to the bucket Tribe’s 2020-2021 season in the Class 2A District Tournament championship game played Tuesday, February 23 at West Delaware High School in Manchester.

After falling at the home of the Blazers, 70-65, January 23 in a game where the Indians had bolted to a double-digit first quarter lead but saw it erode away in the second half, it was Beckman that got out to the early lead in this postseason tilt. The Tribe recovered enough to hold a 30-28 halftime lead but suffered an 18-9 outscoring in the third quarter that, despite a valiant fourth quarter effort, the Indians couldn’t quite fully recover from in having their season ended by a 55-49 defeat.

The loss snapped the Indians’ five-game win streak that began after their regular season loss to this same Beckman team exactly one month earlier and ends the Tribe’s 2020-2021 season with an overall record of 15-6 that includes a NEIC runner-up mark of 9-3 for Waukon’s best NEIC result since the 2006-2007 season. Beckman went on to defeat West Branch in a 56-52 overtime thriller in the Substate 4 championship game Saturday, February 27, earning advancement to the Class 2A State Tournament, the Blazers’ first State Tournament trip since 2007.

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