Gladbrook-Reinbeck sophomore Isaac Clark (2) shoots a baseline floater over BGM defender Caleb Fleming during the first half of Monday’s Class 1A District 11 quarterfinal in Reinbeck. PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING

Gladbrook-Reinbeck has high expectations this postseason. The No. 3 Rebels are the top seed in Class 1A District 11 and have dreams of making the state tournament after two-straight losses in the substate finals.

Every journey begins somewhere — and G-R wasted no time in beginning its playoff run Monday night with an emphatic 85-31 win over visiting BGM.

G-R is now 20-2 on the season. BGM ends the year 7-17.

A tight first quarter ended with the Rebels leading 17-9, and once G-R began the second quarter on an 8-0 run to push the gap to 16 it would not slip within single-digits again.

Head coach Scott Kiburis said he didn’t particularly like the team’s first-half performance, particularly with regards to execution on both ends of the floor. G-R led 42-22 at the half but allowed the Bears multiple scoring opportunities late in the second quarter.

Gladbrook-Reinbeck senior William Kiburis (11) drives between BGM defenders Jacob Maurer, left, and Beau Burns (2) during the first half of Monday’s district basketball game in Reinbeck. PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING

“We didn’t play our best first half and we talked about that, especially on the defensive end,” Kiburis said. “Didn’t execute well, dropped a few passes. Then I thought in the second half, we played really well.”

BGM actually scored the first five points of the third quarter to cut the deficit to 42-27, but the Rebels responded by scoring 18 unanswered points and pushing their lead to 33. A lot of the run had to do with strong defense and transition opportunities for star senior William Kiburis, who scored a game-high 29 points and was aggressive when fast-break chances arose. Luke Riffey had just eight points, but six of them came on third-quarter 3-pointers at the beginning of the 18-0 run. In total three G-R platers scored eight points — Riffey, Caleb Egesdal and Austin Vaverka. Drew Eilers scored nine.

Sophomore Isaac Clark was key in the first half with 10 of his 12 points, helping to supplement William’s scoring and keep the pace going.

Scott said Clark has improved greatly on and off the scoresheet.

“Isaac Clark’s been playing really well for us,” Scott said. “He does all the little things that people don’t see and now he’s been putting points on the board. He’s really aggressive, he’s another ball-handler out there and he’s gotten so much stronger too this past year. He can play a little post defense and play the other team’s best player sometimes, which he’s done in the past couple of games at times.”

William and G-R continued to push the pace and extend the lead to 67-31 at the end of the third quarter. As the game petered out in the fourth quarter and G-R took out its starters to give them some rest before the second round, the Rebels held BGM scoreless in the final eight minutes.

Entering the playoffs coming off of a one-point overtime loss to 2A Alburnett last Friday, Scott said the Rebels would use that loss as a positive learning moment heading into the postseason. Their next opportunity to put those lessons to use will be Thursday in the District 11 semifinals at home against HLV, who is 12-11 on the season. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. The Sun Courier will feature full coverage of the game in next week’s edition.

Gladbrook-Reinbeck 85, BGM 31

GLADBROOK-REINBECK (20-2) — Luke Riffey 3 0-0 8, Isaac Clark 5 0-1 12, Caleb Egesdal 4 0-0 8, William Kiburis 12 4-4 29, Drew Eilers 2 5-6 9, Brandon Mathern 0 0-1 0, Austen Mathern 1 0-0 2, Hudson Clark 1 0-1 2, Austin Vaverka 2 3-3 8, Luke Sienknecht 1 0-0 2, Michael Boyd 2 5-6 9, Austin Gehring 2 0-0 5. TOTALS 33 12-16 85.

BGM (7-17) — Kieran Sacora 0 0-0 0, Dominic Coleman 5 0-0 12, Brayden Hepke 0 0-0 0, Caleb Fleming 1 0-0 2, Jacob Maurer 2 1-2 5, Beau Burns 3 2-2 8, Tucker Wright 0 0-0 0, Mason Maschmann 1 0-0 2, Dakota Heishman 1 0-0 2, Ben Cadden 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 13 3-4 31.