REINBECK — One more. Why not?

Gladbrook-Reinbeck boys basketball returns to the Class 1A state tournament on Monday afternoon, and with many of the Rebels’ stars coming off a breakthrough football run to the 8-man state semifinals earlier this school year, G-R looks to take it one step further on the hardwood, starting with a 2 p.m. tip-off with Bellevue Marquette at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

“Do that extra rep in the weight room? Why not? Why not go harder, why not give 110 percent,” G-R sophomore Hudson Clark said. “And we’re always wanting that one more.”

Drew Eilers and Isaac Clark are returning members of the starting five that fell in last year’s state quarterfinal matchup against Remsen St. Mary’s, and several others like Hudson Clark and senior Austin Vaverka have increased roles from the prior season.

Eilers is averaging a double-double this season at 12.5 points and 10.1 rebounds per game for the Rebels, Isaac Clark adds 11.7 points per game and big man Michael Boyd, who only averaged 1.8 points per game last season as a sophomore, leads the Rebels with 14.2 points per contest as a 6-foot-5 junior this winter.

“We rely on Michael a lot because he’s big in the paint and can shoot the three,” Vaverka said. “Drew doesn’t do a lot of shooting so having a big like that that can shoot it is big.”

There’s no shortage of shooters for Gladbrook-Reinbeck, certainly — the Rebels have made 170-of-453 3-point attempts this season, a 37.5 percent clip that is the best among all 1A state qualifiers this week and ranks top-10 in all classes.

Isaac Clark’s made 52 threes and the junior sharpshooting tandem of Brandon and Austen Mathern have combined to rattle home 83 3-pointers.

But in the recent games down the stretch, G-R head coach Scott Kiburis believes the Rebels have been careful to pick the right shot.

“We’re taking the correct shot,” Kiburis said. “We might turn it over trying to get that correct shot but we’re trying to get the highest-percentage shot each possession.”

G-R won an overtime thriller at home against Belle Plaine, knocked off a previously-unbeaten Keota team and staved off Kee as part of the Rebels’ postseason journey.

The common thread that binds those victories, and a point of emphasis for G-R this week, is defense. Hudson Clark leads the team with 2.1 steals per game.

“We’ve had a couple games in a row where we’d get down in the first half and our coaches would tell us to step it up,” Eilers said. “And we’d come out there and shut down a couple teams with second-half defense.”

Vaverka added, “We might have some games where we’re just shooting OK, but defense keeps us in the game. It’s a defensive mindset that’s gotten us this far.”

The Bellevue Marquette Defenders are led by 6-foot-5 junior Spencer Roeder averaging 16.3 points, 8.2 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game — three more Defenders average double-digit scoring as well.

Bellevue Marquette defeated Dunkerton, 57-42, in the substate final to reach their first state tournament since 2006, when they were state runners-up.

“They’re the number two team in the state for a reason,” Kiburis said. “They’re really good athletes that play hard on both ends, do some pressure defense in the full court and then go into a man-to-man defense, and they just like to attack the basket offensively.”

Kiburis expects the Rebels to draw off their experiences both at state football and as part of a state runner-up Grundy Center/Gladbrook-Reinbeck boys soccer team last spring to be ready for the bright lights on Monday.

“Even the guys that didn’t play as much at state last year, they have that experience,” Kiburis said. “They know what to expect when they go to the locker room, when they come out on the floor. And we’ve had three runs of teams that have gone back the next year or the next couple years, and those teams always know what to expect.

“It’s different from any other game they play but if they could treat it as a competitive kind of game against an Aplington-Parkersburg or a Grundy Center, where they’re playing a great team and just do what we ask them to do, we can be able to keep the vision on what we’re trying to accomplish as a group.”