There was nothing getting in between Johnston basketball and the substate final, not even lengthy stoppages of play in the first quarter for those aforementioned issues.
The Dragons (14-8) stormed past Des Moines North (15-7), defeating the Polar Bears, 65-40, on Friday. Getting to that final score took overcoming those early speedbumps.
"It breaks up the flow of the game," said head coach Courtney Henderson of the early stoppages. "But I thought our kids did a really good job of staying focused and putting things together."
Both teams started even, exchanging scores throughout the first quarter before Johnston pulled ahead for a three-point lead at the end of the first frame. It was the second quarter when the Dragons managed to pull away.
Johnston outscored the Polar Bears, 13-0, over the 5:43 of the second quarter. Even as North responded by finally getting some points on the board, it wasn't enough to make a significant dent in Johnston's advantage.
The Dragons went to the locker room with a 31-17 lead at halftime.
"I thought we settled in," Henderson said. "First quarter, we were kind of antsy, rightfully so."
There were points in the second half when North seemed to find its flow, but the gap that Johnston created in the first half proved too much to overcome. The Polar Bears trailed, 46-30, after three quarters, before losing the substate semifinal by 25 points.
Despite the dieficit, North didn't stop applying pressure until the final buzzer.
Tino Daye led the Dragons with 18 points. North's Da'corion White was the game's leading scorer with 19 points.
Johnston will face Ames (20-2) in the substate final on Mar. 4 at 7 p.m.; the winner earns a berth in the state tournament.
"Coach (Vance) Downs is one of the best in the state," Henderson shared. "I know they're going to be sound defensively. They're going to be physical. They're going to run their actions well offensively, and they're just extremely well-coached.
"It's going to be a tough matchup, but they all are this time of year, right?"
Alyssa Hertel is the college sports recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at [email protected] or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.