They were a machine with players moving seamlessly in and out of various roles Teymer put them in .
" This team accepted being role players and coming off the bench ,” he said . “ In one of our toughest games in the district finals , one of our players came off the bench and had two or three big assists that helped us beat a very good Bettendorf team . This group really blended well together because they liked each other and they were happy for each other when success came ."
Early in the year , the Kings won the River City Classic , defeating Mater Dei 57-30 , and were soon rated third in the state . In December , however , they lost their undefeated standing by losing 59-57 at Pleasant Valley .
That would be their only defeat as they had no trouble with De- Witt , North Scott and Fulton . The 82-44 victory over Fulton was an unusually big margin by which to beat the Steamers .
In January , after that blow out , the River Kings rose to first in the polls and knocked off Muscatine , Burlington and Assumption by double digits with a new high scorer every night .
Powers , the point guard , ran the team .
" It was a fun season , we pushed each other really hard ,” he said . “ Coach DeLacy and Teymer had us in very competitive practices which really prepared us for our games . The best part about it was that it was a great season with my friends . We weren ' t just teammates , we were friends on and off the court ."
By Feb . 24 , the Kings had clinched the MAC championship by winning 61-54 over Davenport West , 85-57 over Pleasant Valley and 61-54 over Davenport West .
They beat North Scott easily 71-53 in the district , then they topped third-rated Bettendorf in the Bulldogs ’ own gym , 64-58 .
The Kings punched their state tournament ticket with a 65-56 win over Davenport Central .
Clinton wound up with seven players on the MAC all-conference team . Cleppe and Powers were selected for the first team , along with Teymer as coach of the year . Rose and Werning were on the second team , with hot outside-shooting Stremlow on the third team .
" I was very fortunate to be in the right place at the right time . I had great coaches , players , parental support to get the kids to and from practice , the administration was awesome and we had amazing fans ," Teymer said .
Werning and Stremlow were honored on the all-tournament first team . In the final game , Stremlow scored 31 points and Werning was the rebound champ for the entire tourney .
In the state title game , the River Kings handled Indianola with ease , 97-60 .
" For some reason everything just clicked for us that night and we got off to a fast start . Chris Powers hit the first 3-pointer and then Peter Stremlow took it from there ," Teymer said . " The kids continued to play hard the entire time , and I couldn ' t have been
more proud of how they competed in that final game . We only had one player who didn ' t score that night but he contributed in many other ways ."
The 37-point margin of victory is still the largest point differential in a championship game in IHSAA Boys Basketball history .
" It was a great season and it ' s hard to believe it was 32 years ago ," Powers said . " The support that the Clinton community and surrounding communities gave us was very magical and fun to be a part of . It ' s something I ' ll never forget ."
Game history for this article came from the “ Clinton Herald ' s Decades Book 2013 ” by Scott Levine .
Right : C . J . Rose ( 54 ) of Clinton wraps up Chris Johansen with a bear hug folloing Johansen ' s incredulous basket as time ran out in regulation play during a Class 3A tournament quarterfinal game against Cedar Rapids- Jefferson Wednesday night . Johansen ' s shot tied the game at 58-58 sending it into overtime where the River Kings outscored Jefferson to take a 65-62 victory .
CLINTON MAGAZINE | SPRING 2024 27