A pair of Tigers will tangle north of Ames tonight with a spot in Monday’s substate championship game on the line. The Gilbert varsity boys basketball team entertains ADM in a matchup of the second and third seeds in the Class 3A Substate 7 bracket. The two squads played a weekend contest on December 15 in Gilbert with ADM coming away with a 67-63 victory. ADM assisted on 18 of their 24 made shots that day, making 13 of their 15 free throw attempts. Three ADM players finished with double-figure points, including a team-best 21 points for senior Koby Hardcastle. Sophomore Nate Mueller added 13, and junior Jaxson Milsap chipped in 10. The Raccoon Valley Radio Network asked ADM head boys basketball coach Aaron Mager about what’ll take to best Gilbert for a second time this winter. “Similar to last time, you got to compete (for) 32 minutes,” Mager said, “These guys come out, they’re scrappy, aggressive, they do a lot of different pressure things. They try to get layups, and you can’t let them get into a feeding frenzy defensively.”

Gilbert averages 11 steals per contest this winter, but ADM minimized their theft opportunities to five in their December meeting. Gilbert is undefeated this season when they force nine or more steals compared to a 1-4 record when they register eight or less. The Raccoon Valley Radio Network will provide live play by play coverage of the Class 3A Substate 7 semifinal between ADM and Gilbert on True Country K 107.9 FM, raccoonvalleyradio.com, and the KKRF mobile app. Pregame coverage starts at 6:30 p.m. and tip-off set for 7 p.m. from Gilbert High School.