April 15, 2025
We talked recently with a few members of the 2014-15 Cardinal basketball team—Alan Schmidt, Dan Schmidt, Andy Algreen, A.J. Leporte, and head coach Kevin Williamson—and reminisced about their state tournament run. Enjoy the final installment of our three-part story.
At the Well
After storming through district play, the Cardinals headed to the state tournament at Wells Fargo Arena with a 23-2 record.
High school basketball history is littered with teams that had great seasons but could not adjust to playing at state. Earlham had never been to the state tournament before—Coach Williamson included. How would he prepare his team to take that next step? That’s a tough job under normal circumstances, but Coach Williamson was also preoccupied with his daughter Taelor’s illness.
“It was a crazy time personally for me because I was back and forth between (Mayo Clinic in) Rochester, Minnesota, and Earlham trying to get to every practice,” he said. “Thank God for (assistant coaches James) Severson and (Tim) Harskamp, because they kind of held the fort down at home.”
But this Cardinal team was a special group. They didn’t need much more than a ‘minimalist’ coaching approach.
“Getting those guys ready was pretty easy because we just kept having practice,” said Coach Williamson. “They knew that they could beat anybody, and I really think that with their mentality and their confidence and their ability to pick each other up, my job was easy. It was just a matter of letting them play basketball and do their thing.”
The first opponent for the Cards on March 10 was Belle Plaine, who entered the tournament with a 25-1 record. Earlham fans turned out in force for the afternoon game, filling several sections in the lower bowl. The Cardinals were an easy team for the community to embrace. Sure, they won a lot, but they were also good kids that did things the right way.
The players certainly felt the love from their fans as they stepped onto the Wells Fargo floor for the first time.
“There were definitely nerves,” said Algreen, “but then you come out of the tunnel you see basically the whole town of Earlham in the seats. It’s awesome to have that community support backing us up. It was cool to see that.”
Whether it was nerves or just the physical adjustments to Wells Fargo, the game started slowly. The action was fast paced, but both teams struggled to make baskets.
“It’s a different experience for sure,” said Leporte. “Going from the small Earlham gym where the walls are right behind the baskets to the arena, where you’re shooting at a backboard that seems like it’s a million miles away because there’s no background behind it. It was a big adjustment getting on that court for the first time.”
Dan adjusted quicker than anybody. He came off the bench in the 2nd quarter and ignited a Cardinal rally by draining 3 3-pointers in a row.
“It was fun,” he said. “Obviously, there were nerves. But I remember one year going down and watching state. Specifically for me, that was a lot of motivation because I really wanted to be out there doing it. Once you get out there, you’re just shooting a basketball. I felt pretty comfortable.”
Algreen scored 7 points in the 1st quarter and the Cards and Plainsmen were tied at 11 after 1.
Belle Plaine scored the first 7 points of the 2nd to take the lead, 18-11, but the Cards answered with an 18-0 run. Moose got it started with a turnaround jumper in the lane. Dan followed with his trio of 3-pointers. Defensively, the Cards utilized a half court trap, which forced some turnovers and threw the Belle Plaine offense out of rhythm. Moose scored two more times, with a putback and an elbow jumper, and Dan capped the rally with a layup-and-one. The Cards led, 29-18, and they led at halftime, 29-22.
The top three scorers for Belle Plaine were over 6 feet tall, but the Cardinal defense did a great job of keeping them away from the basket and contesting jump shots. The Cardinals simply didn’t allow the Plainsmen to get back into the game in the 2nd half. After Dan made another 3 and Moose scored after a slick move in the paint, the Cards led, 42-29. They led, 47-38, after 3.
Belle Plaine got to within 8 points in the 4th quarter, but the Cards put them away with an 8-0 run. Both teams cleared their benches with a couple minutes remaining in the game. The Cards won, 63-50.
Moose led the way with 16 points and Dan and Algreen both scored 15.
The Cardinal’s confidence had been a critical factor in the team getting to this point, and now it was at an all-time high.
“Once you get one win on the board, you realize quickly that you belong,” said Alan. “It’s not some crazy task to win on the Wells floor. I think that first win gave us confidence. Then, obviously, we had a very tough opponent the second game.”
Next up for the Cardinals was unbeaten and top-ranked Gladbrook-Reinbeck on March 12. The Rebels had it all: great size, high-scoring guards, and talented post players. Slowing them down would be a challenge.
The hard-nosed Cardinal defense did its job from the opening tap. Nothing came easy for the high-scoring Rebels, who averaged 73 ppg and 7 made 3-pointers per game. But the Rebel defense was built of similar stuff, and the Cardinal offense struggled to get anything going. The Cards trailed, 12-8, after the 1st quarter.
The slow pace of the game continued, with most of the action in the half court. With no shot clock, there were plenty of long possessions by both teams. The game was tightly called by the officials (29 total fouls), which slowed things down even more. With 3-point shots not available, the Gladbrook-Reinbeck guards did find some success driving to the basket. The Cards trailed at halftime, 27-20.
The slow grind continued in the 2nd half. The Cards got within 4 points of the Rebels in the 3rd quarter, but that’s as close as they would get. They trailed, 38-28, after 3.
The Cards kept pace with the Rebels for most of the 4th quarter but could not cut the deficit. Several late free throws by the Rebels pushed the final score to 60-45. For Gladbrook-Reinbeck, the point total was their 2nd lowest for the season, while the 45 points was the lowest output for the Cardinals.
Gladbrook-Reinbeck was an excellent team. They would go onto complete their undefeated season with a convincing win in the state title game over MVAOCOU. There was no reason for the Cardinals to hang their heads after that loss. Still, losing when you’re just one game way from playing for a state title is not easy. But the Cards had to regroup. They would play for 3rd place the next day.
The team had no problem bouncing back mentally.
“We were still playing for something,” said Alan. “In our mind, we were a team that had never been there. So, 3rd place sounds a lot better than 4th. That’s on the podium. So that was still something to play for, for sure.”
The Earlham contingent in the stands at Wells Fargo swelled for the semifinal game, and it was only slightly smaller for the 3rd-place game on Friday afternoon. This team had touched the community, and many folks wanted to see things through to the end. School was closed for the third time that week, allowing the kids to come see the games.
“Those games were right in the middle of the day,” said Coach Williamson. “It was a commitment for everybody. The kids at school; they’re going to support the team no matter what. But for the community members to take a day off work and go down—that was pretty cool to see.”
From the opening tap of the 3rd-place game, it was evident that Danville wanted to end their season with a win, too. They were undefeated coming into the state tournament and lost their semifinal game by 2 points. They had four players that averaged in double figures and scored nearly 77 ppg.
The teams got off to a hot start. Alan, Dan, and Leporte made 3-pointers for the Cards and they led, 17-14, halfway through the 1st. But both teams got cold and did not score for the rest of the period.
Danville went ahead, 20-19, early in the 2nd and there were four more lead changes and one tie over the rest of the quarter, and the Bears led at halftime, 30-29.
Moose opened the 3rd with a layup, but Danville went on a 15-6 run to lead, 45-37, late in the quarter. Leporte made a driving layup and then 2 free throws to cut the deficit in half, and the Cards trailed at the final break, 45-41.
The 4th quarter got off to an inauspicious start for the Cardinals with two bad, and uncharacteristic, turnovers. Danville could not take advantage, though, and the Cards broke the scoring ice in the frame when Alan made a fast-break layup, was fouled, and converted the free throw. Moose followed with a 10-foot floater in the lane and the Cardinals had the lead, 46-45. After a Danville free throw, Leporte drained a 3. After another Danville free throw, Alan made another layup after the Cards broke the Bears’ formidable three-quarter court press. Danville sandwiched a layup-and one and another layup around 2 free throws by Moose, and the Cards led, 53-52, with 2:57 to go.
The Cards left no doubt after that. Alan sank a 3-pointer at 1:42. Moose then made a steal in the Danville front court and threw a laser beam baseball pass to a streaking Leporte for a layup. 58-52, Cards. After a steal by Alan, he made 2 free throws with 55 seconds to play. After a Danville miss, Algreen made a free throw, then missed the second, but Moose grabbed the rebound and scored with 38 seconds left. Danville did not foul after their next missed shot, and the Cards dribbled out the clock.
A ’meaningless’ 3rd-place game? Hardly. The Cards had capped the best season in Earlham history with a win over a great team at the biggest arena in Iowa in front of fans that adored and appreciated them.
“To me, it settled in when we got to the locker room,” said Dan. “Canyon started crying and then I almost started crying. It was like a gateway. So I think we felt how big it was pretty quickly.”
Leporte added, “It was a lot different feeling—congratulating each other after the last game of the season instead of just wishing everybody the best. We were crying happy tears instead of bad tears. We were happy about what we accomplished.”
“I’ve been doing this at one level or another for 29 years, and 20 years as a varsity coach,” said Coach Williamson, “and one time I can say I won my last game of the year. It’s crazy because you just don’t usually end the season with a smile on your face. There’s usually tears and telling guys you appreciate what they’ve done for four years, and that one was super special. There were tears, but it was like, ‘You should be damn proud of what you did.’ And it was so cool to have that experience.”
Earlham Echo 
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