A tall task, and a familiar face await the WACO Warrior boys basketball team tonight in Wayland when the North Linn Lynx visit. The Warriors come into Thursday with a 5-2 mark after a 74-49 win over Lone Tree Tuesday where Hunter Hughes dialed up 21 points, Colton Leichty 15 and Chase Waterhouse 11. On the year, the Warriors score 61 points per game and give up 40, shooting 45% from the floor, 24% from three and 63% at the line with 34 boards, 17 assists, 19 steals and 15 turnovers per game. Individual leaders include, Hughes at 21 points, five assists and five steals per game. Leichty leads on the glass with eight boards per night.

North Linn is 8-0 this year after a 61-45 win over Maquoketa Valley Tuesday. They have won 216 of their last 224 games dating back to 2015. This year, they’re scoring 81 per game while giving up 32, shooting 55% from the floor, 38% from deep and 75% at the line with 26 boards, 20 assists, 16 steals and eight turnovers per game. Individual leaders include Mason Bechen with 23 points, seven assists and four steals per game. Ty Pflughaupt averages eight rebounds per night. These teams last met in 2021 with the Lynx taking an 84-28 win.

This matchup also means the return of coaching legend Bob Hilmer to Wayland, where the court bears his name. Hilmer, the all-time winningest coach in Iowa high school boys basketball history, patrolled the sidelines at WACO for 14 seasons, from 2001-2015. His 57-year coaching tenure that started in Fredericksburg in 1963, also saw stops in Forest City and at North Linn, where he won state titles. He holds a 917-347 career record, a 72.5% win percentage, is the only coach in Iowa boys basketball history to clear the 900 win mark and only the 33rd nationally. Hilmer broke the state record for wins as the head man for the Warriors with victory No. 681, a 58-44 win over Pekin in 2018, to clinch a Superconference Division Championship. He was inducted into the Iowa High School Sports Hall of Fame in 2008. Hilmer will be honored tonight in Wayland as part of the festivities. He spoke with KCII Sports in 2020 about his time at WACO and Bob Hilmer Court. Hilmer said, “WACO was a 1A school, and I really like the small school bit. You know the kids real well. The kids know each other real well. You get a long with the administration and the faculty because you’re real close. The kids always worked very hard. The people in the community were always solidly behind the school and the teams, no matter the sport. When I set the record for career wins they had a celebration at the school. They named the basketball court after me. They decided they wanted me to write it in cursive rather than block print it. I don’t know how many examples I ended up giving to Chad Edeker. That’s the only good handwriting I probably have anywhere. They had a celebration back at WACO, pretty big crowd there. They unveiled the court, they had it covered up. It was definitely a surprise! Maybe the biggest honor I have ever had as a high school coach!”

Tip-off is set for 7:30p.m. tonight in Wayland.