STATE QUALIFIERS — Members of the North Union Warriors boys basketball team tipping off the Iowa Class 1A state quarterfinals against Lake Mills at 3:45 p.m. Monday, March 4, at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa, include, from left: Assistant coach Steve Ryan, Grady Madden, Aiden Lofstrom, Lane Bruhn, Kody Irmiter, Dan Fothergill, Greyson Colegrove, Kyan Jones, Caden Walders, Preston Guerdet, Bryce Beschorner, Drew Henderson, head coach Alex Fisher and Khael Jones. (Photo by Greg Abel)

DES MOINES — The North Union Warriors boys basketball squad enters the Iowa Class 1A state tournament as the No. 6 seed and will face a familiar face in the No. 3 seed Lake Mills Bulldogs at 3:45 p.m. Monday at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

The road to a state championship will be daunting and here’s an inside look at the rest of the tournament field.

The Class 1A tournament will get under way Monday at 10:30 a.m. when the No. 1 seed North Linn Lynx (23-1) take on the No. 8 seed Woodbine Tigers (23-2).

The Lynx enter the matchup as the favorites in the tournament, boasting an incredible margin of victory of 41.9 points throughout the season. The Lynx average 79.1 points a game while only allowing 37.2 points per contest.

The Lynx shoot well from all levels of the floor and sport two 20-point scorers. Senior Ty Pflughaupt averages 20.0 points on 63.7 percent shooting from the field and 42 percent shooting from 3-point range.

Pflughaupt will be joined by junior Mason Bechen, who averages 20.5 points per game, while shooting 51.5 percent from the field and 36.8 percent from behind the arc.

As for the Tigers, they will have to rely on a great defensive game to pull off the upset.

With a less potent offense, the Tigers will rely upon junior Carter Gruver to have a big game. The junior averages 20.6 points per contest on 49.4 percent shooting from the field and 35.5 percent shooting from deep.

The Tigers allow 47.8 points a game and with their less efficient overall scoring ability, it will be a tall test against the Lynx.

In the second matchup Monday, the No. 4 seed Winfield-Mt. Union Wolves (20-2) will face off against the No. 5 seed Lynnville-Sully Hawks (24-1) at 12:15 p.m.

Both sides carry five-game winning streaks into the tournament. The Wolves and Hawks come in as tight competitors with average point differentials of 27 and 24.7 points, respectively.

The Wolves appear to be a bit top heavy with leading scorer Cam Buffington averaging 19.1 points a game on the season. He, along with Abram Edwards who averages 14.4 points per contest, will prove pivotal if they hope to win.

As for the Hawks, they sport a more balanced offensive attack with just two players averaging more than 10 points a game on the season. Senior Mitchell Miller averages 12.8 points, while Klayton Van Dyk averages 12.5 points per contest.

In the third game of the day, No. 2 seed Marquette Catholic (25-1) takes on the No. 7 seed Gladbrook-Reinbeck Rebels (21-5) at 2 p.m.

Marquette Catholic will enter the game as the favorite by sporting a balanced offensive attack that averaged 74.8 points per game during the season.

Junior Spencer Roeder averages 16.3 points a game on 51.4 percent shooting from the field and 35 percent shooting from beyond the arc.

Roeder will be joined by Eli Scott and Caden Kettman, who average 11.5 and 11.3 points, respectively. Marquette Catholic isn’t just good on the offensive end, however, as it only allowed 43.8 points a night this year.

As for the Rebels, they sport a balanced attack with junior Michael Boyd leading the way at 14.2 points a game. He is accompanied by Drew Eilers and Isaac Clark, who average a solid 12.5 and 11.7 points a game, respectively.

The Rebels’ defense is similar in ability to Marquette Catholic’s, and the Rebels shoot more efficiently from the floor, but struggle a bit at the charity stripe. Each side comes into the game with five straight wins.

The final game of the afternoon is between the No. 3 seed Lake Mills Bulldogs and the No. 6 seed North Union Warriors.

These two sides have a history this season, having matched up on Feb 6, with the Bulldogs coming away with a narrow 70-68 victory to claim the Top of Iowa Conference crown.

The Bulldogs sport a high-octane offense averaging 77.3 points a game on the season, while the Warriors play a slower more methodical game averaging 65.8 points a game.

If the Warriors can successfully press and trap the Bulldogs, it will be a tight game like their previous matchup.

Leading the way for the Bulldogs is senior Lance Helming, who averages 19.1 points a night on 53.2 percent shooting from the field and 40.2 percent shooting from deep.

Helming will be joined by the duo of Eli Menke and Aiden Stenrud, who average 16.4 and 16 points, respectively.

As for the Warriors, the team sports four to five guys who can go for double-digit scoring nights.

The usual suspects for the Warriors are big man Kody Irmiter, who enters the matchup averaging 12 points a game. He will be joined by guard Preston Guerdet, who averages 11.5 points per game and forward Aiden Lofstrom who tallies 11.3 points on 61.4 percent shooting from the floor.

With a state title on the line, Monday will be the first step in achieving a season-long goal for all eight teams competing.