2014-15 Cardinals finished 3rd at the state basketball tournament
March 25, 2025
For young adults, the ten years right after high school are action packed. When you’re busy getting your career rolling, starting a family, and just generally finding your way in the world, things are happening so fast that you can almost lose track of time somewhat.
When we contacted a few members of the 2014-15 Cardinal boys’ basketball team about the 10th anniversary of their 3rd-place finish at the state tournament, the space-time seemed to catch some of them off guard.
“I didn’t know it was 10 years until you said it,” said Alan Schmidt with a laugh. “It went by so fast. So I was kind of horrified when you let us know.”
A couple of weeks ago, we sat down with Alan Schmidt, Dan Schmidt, Andy Algreen, A.J. Leporte, and head coach Kevin Williamson to reminisce about the only Cardinal boys’ team to ever qualify for the state tournament. There were plenty of laughs—and more than a few tears—as we discussed that season, what it meant to them then, and what it means now.
Beginnings
The team that year was loaded with upperclassmen. The top nine scorers were either seniors or juniors, and most of those guys had played together since grade school. During those ‘little league’ days, the post-game snack might be more critical than who won or who lost—but it’s also when dreams of state championships are born.
“We definitely talked about it,” said Alan, who along with his brother Dan, Zack Schreck, Derek Hensley, Micah Bailey, Ben Williamson, and Grant Detrick, was a senior in ’14-‘15. “We didn’t lose a basketball game in 3rd or 4th grade. Maybe 5th or 6th grade was the first time we lost. Then we started playing AAU tournaments and we’d go play Waukee and lose by 30. But we definitely thought about (the state tournament) from an early age.”
For the guys that were juniors that year (Canyon ‘Moose’ Hopkins, A.J. Leporte, Andy Algreen, and Josh Smith), getting to state someday was perhaps more in the back of their collective mind than the front during their early playing days.
“I don’t know if it’s something we ever talked about,” said Leporte. “But I think we all knew that we had something there and we could go a long way with what we had. We had a really tight-knit group that played well together for a really long time. So I think we always thought it was a possibility.”
Some of the coaches for the boys in their early years were Doug Bailey, Lance Ridgely, Monte Hopkins, and Alan Algreen. Patience, enthusiasm, good communication skills, and knowledge of the game are all characteristics for a good youth coach, and these guys fit the bill.
“That’s a huge part of it,” said Coach Williamson. “Having guys in there that are going to teach fundamentals and just do things the right way instead of worrying about winning at all costs. They let them play and didn’t just focus on set plays. They taught them how to play basketball, how to understand it, and helped build their IQ.”
Both groups made their mark in middle school basketball, and when they got to high school, some of them earned varsity playing time as underclassmen. By the 2013-14 season, the core of what would be the state tournament team was taking shape.
Coach Williamson had no qualms about rolling such a young team out on the floor every night.
“You could definitely do more with them because they just understood more,” he said. “As coaches, I thought our job was to get out of the way and let them play basketball. Because they did have a good understanding, and they played so well with each other that our job was to try to get the right guys on the floor at the right time. And if someone was struggling, the nice thing about that group was that they were fairly deep.”
In their first 12 games in ‘13-’14, the Cards won 4 games in a row, but also suffered a 3-game losing streak, and their record was 6-6. The team started to gel down the stretch, winning 6 of the last 8 games in the regular season. In the playoffs, the Cards won their first two games over I-35 and Adair-Casey. In the district final, they faced Nodaway Valley. The Wolverines had lost only two games all season and had thrashed the Cardinals by 22 points just two weeks earlier. The Cards played well, but eventually bowed, 57-51.
Conventional sports wisdom says that sometimes it’s actually a loss that can spur a team onto greater things—and this may have been that loss for the Cards.
“When we lost that game, we felt really good about the next year—if you can really feel good right after a loss,” said Coach Williamson. “But we knew what we had coming back.”
The season
The Cardinals came into the 2014-15 season as an experienced, confident team with as much talent as any school in the conference—in a year that the WCAC was especially tough.
There wasn’t anything that Moose didn’t do well. He was a guard in a big man’s body. He had an excellent mid-range jumper and had silky post-man moves. Alan and Dan were rangy, athletic small forwards that were deadly long-range shooters that could also slash to the basket. Leporte and Algreen were both excellent ball handlers and good shooters that were interchangeable at point and shooting guard. Schreck and Hensley rounded out the main rotation. At 6’ 4” and a half mile wide—all muscle—Shreck was an intimidating presence in the lane. Hensley gave the Cards solid minutes when he was in the lineup.
The Cards opened with a resounding 79-69 win over Van Meter. Moose scored 32 points and Alan scored 21. Next, the Cards smashed Madrid by 41. In their 3rd game, the Cards came up short against Panorama, 64-55. The Panthers were good that year, but the Cards knew that they hadn’t played up to their standards.
“When we lost to Panorama, that was a bit of an eye opener,” said Coach Williamson. “But then we went on a pretty good roll after that.”
Indeed. The Cardinals reeled off 11 wins in a row with an average winning margin of 22 points. The second win of the streak was a 66-60 win over Des Moines Christian on the road, the first Cardinal win over the Lions since 2007. Four Cardinals scored in double figures and Alan led with 18 points.
The last two games of the streak were close wins: 56-49 over Panorama and 54-51 over Ogden. On January 27, DMC got a measure of revenge by beating the Cardinals, 63-52. But with a 13-2 record, the Cardinals’ confidence was at a high point.
“There’s a difference between having a good confidence level versus a cockiness level,” said Algreen. “I feel like we did a pretty good job of staying confident as opposed to a cockiness mindset.”
Coach Williamson added, “You definitely want confidence—and it is a thin line between confident and cocky. We didn’t have the cockiness. And they didn’t care who did what. I don’t remember anybody complaining about not getting shots or someone shooting too much. They had a common goal and the confidence with that group was high.”
The core Cardinal group had always been talented—since their early days in grade school ball—but their work ethic and camaraderie had always been what had set them apart. All of that only intensified when they reached high school.
“We were friends on and off the court, so we were always hanging out around each other,” said Leporte. “I think that played a huge factor. Also, just coming in and getting extra shots up in the morning. Alan and Dan would pick up Andy and me and we’d go shoot at 7 in the morning most days. We were all willing to put in the extra work to accomplish what we wanted to.”
Moose was there, too, and Coach Williamson didn’t even need to flick the lights on for them.
“I don’t think we’ve had a group like these guys that were willing to put in that much time,” he said. “We get individuals here and there, but it was just about every morning with them. It didn’t matter if it was in season or out of season, there were guys in there shooting. You don’t get that all the time. These guys were just driven. They had the end in mind when they began that year. And that’s what’s important. If it’s the team driving leadership as opposed to a coach, it’s so much better. And these guys definitely figured that out.”
Three days after losing to DMC, the Cardinals traveled to Woodward Academy. The Knights played their home games in the old gym at Woodward-Granger, and that environment was much different than it is now. Many of the Academy’s students attended the games and they marched in single file and filled the bleachers on the home side well before game time. As soon as they settled in, they proceeded to cheer, chant, sing, clap, yell, dance, and stomp until the game was over.
“Outside of Wells Fargo, it was by far the best atmosphere we played in,” said Dan. “They packed that other side. It was a lot of fun.”
Woodward Academy starts over with an entirely new roster most every year, and they usually struggle to win games. But that year they were loaded with talent. In fact, just like the Cardinals, they ended up qualifying for state (in Class 2A) for the first time ever that season.
Everyone in attendance that Friday night in Woodward got their money’s worth. The Cards, playing without Moose, who had an injured ankle, beat the Knights, 126-121, in four overtimes. It is still the highest scoring game in Iowa boys’ high school history.
The game probably didn’t go as Coach Williamson and his staff had planned. It was more ‘chaos’ than ‘crisp.’ Knights’ opponents can get sucked in by their run and gun, loosey goosey style of play. The Cards certainly did—but it made for some entertaining basketball.
The first four quarters were a virtual highlight reel of long 3-pointers, alley oops, acrobatic layups, and perfect passes. The overtime periods got bogged down a bit by whistles—four Cardinals and three Knights fouled out and there was a total of 110 free throws attempted—but they were still filled with exciting moments.
In the first OT, the Knights made two free throws with just a couple seconds left on the clock to tie the game.
In the second OT, Dan tied the game with 2 late free throws, then blocked a Knight shot in the lane as time expired.
Joey Harkins came off the bench and blocked three shots in the third OT. He and fellow subs Hensley and Bailey made valuable contributions in the overtime periods. But the Knights made a buzzer beater in the lane to tie the game and send it to a 4th OT.
The Cards opened the final OT period with a 10-2 run, but the Knights fought back to within 1, 122-121. Four late free throws, 2 by Alan and 2 by Harkins, sealed the win for the Cards.
Alan led the Cardinals with 35 points, followed by Dan with 27, Algreen with 24, and Leporte with 23.
The Cardinals followed that with a 57-51 win over Nodaway Valley, then easily won the next four games to finish the regular season with a record of 19-2. The team was primed and ready for a playoff run.
Be sure to read Part 2 of this series in next week’s Echo!
Earlham Echo 
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