“Woodbine Time” Leads to Substate Win over Madrid, 1st State Bid Since ’96

Woodbine Coach Kyle Bartels
(2-24-24)

Woodbine's Jax Pryor
(2-24-24)

Woodbine's Carter Gruver
(2-24-24)

“Woodbine Time” Leads to Substate Win over Madrid, 1st State Bid Since ’96 -

(2-24-24) – Two evenly matched teams. Even their mascots were the same. It just had to come down to one final shot.

Toryn Severson’s 3-pt attempt at the buzzer rattled out of the cylinder and Woodbine survived for a 66-63 win over Madrid in the Class 1A Substate 8 Championship Game in Carroll Saturday.

“A great start,” said Woodbine Coach Kyle Bartels. “Both teams really got up and down the floor, put a lot of points on the board and at half time we told them the big shots coming from them. They're going to try to throw the knockout punch, get us down. You know, they've been here before and we call the timeout reset and just kept on calling ourselves back, hit some big shots. Landon Blum had some big threes in there and just great defense all night on us. That's a great ballclub. Really great shooters. They just didn't get the rolls at the end, and we did.”

A back-and-forth start finished the 1st half with Woodbine leading by 5. But Madrid would score the first 15 pts of the 2nd half on five 3-pointers and taking an 11-pt lead in the 3rd quarter.

But as Woodbine has throughout this postseason, the battled back and cut the deficit to 5 on an unusual play at the quarter buzzer. Woodbine’s Brody Pryor fired up a half-court shot that was well short of the mark but ended up being a pass to Jax Pryor who heaved it up right under the basket, giving Woodbine some much needed momentum going into the 4th.

“I didn't know if it was good or not,” said Jax Pryor of his buzzer-beater. “I mean I just jumped up and just shot that thing.”

Jax Pryor had 13 pts battling Madrid forward Jake Leonard the whole way.

“They're really physical down low. I just kind of square it up and called for the ball when it was ready, but I mean some of my shots didn't fall, but when they were in, they were good.”

The moment swing ignited Woodbine scoring leader Carter Gruver, who took over in the 4th qtr on his way to a double-double with 30pts and 12 boards.

“I knew they couldn't guard me in the paint, so I just got in there, did a couple pump fakes got to the line. Did what I do and it worked.”

Madrid was lead by Severson, who had 28 pts. They finish their season 22-3.

Bartels says Woodbine reaching the Boys’ State Basketball Tournament for the first time since 1996 is a dream come true for himself and his players.

“It's an unbelievable feeling and just for this community and everything, you know, it's been a long time. I'm so excited to get back to the Well and get to play down there. It's always been a dream come true. (I) Told these kids before the game, we've been dreaming about this opportunity since you were in 3rd grade and you started playing basketball. It’s time to go make that dream a reality and they answered the bell.”

Woodbine will be the 8th seed and play No. 1 North Linn at Wells Fargo Arena next Monday at 10:30am to start off the Boy’s State Basketball tournament.

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