C.R. Prairie with huge 4th quarter to rally past C.R. Xavier

CEDAR RAPIDS — Down eight going to the fourth quarter Friday night, Cedar Rapids Prairie didn't panic. It'd been here before.

Too much for Coach Jeremy Rickertsen's taste.

'We have the confidence, we know that we can come back,' Rickertsen said, after his team's 70-66 steal of a win over Cedar Rapids Xavier. 'I wish we wouldn't do it all the time, but I told them at the timeout that we are the best team in the state to make a comeback from eight or 10 down. So let's do this.'

Some forced turnovers, a bunch of made shots and 29 points later, and Prairie had done that.

'We've been in that position before. We've been down a lot,' said Prairie's Jake Eilers. 'We weren't in the position we wanted, but we knew we could get back to that position.'

Eilers was humongous in getting them to that position. He made a 3-pointer to tie the game at 51 with 5:08 left, another with 3:20 left to put his team up, 57-51, then another with 1:30 to go to put things out of reach, 62-54.

He finished with five treys and 15 points, Max Smith Drahos with a team-high 21 points. The Hawks (6-3) were 10 of 20 from 3-point range.

Shooters gonna shoot.

'We have the mindset that it's the law of averages,' said Eilers, a 6-foot-4 senior forward. 'When you're shooting bad, keep shooting, and eventually you'll shoot better. Your percentage will go up. I knew I didn't shoot well the first three (quarters). I got a lot of open looks in the fourth and just knocked them down.'

Xavier (2-6) scrambled back within two in the closing seconds, but Prairie sealed it with free throws. Go figure there, as the Hawks came in leading the state at a stunning 87.9 percent.

They were a mere 83 percent Friday night (20 of 24).

'We're really confident in our offense,' said Smith Drahos. 'We know we can get stops when we need to, so we never believe we're out of a game. We had to adjust, grind that out.'

Xavier had to be scratching its collective head, wondering how this thing got away. The Saints were very good most of the game, shooting 57 percent from the field and building as much as a 10-point lead in the third quarter.

The outside-inside combo of guard Matt Mims (28 points) and center Max Techau (21 points) was unstoppable at times. Yet it ended as just another frustrating loss for last year's Class 3A state champs.

'We've just got to keep working, you know what I mean?' Techau said. 'We've got to put it all together. It's like we'll be there, then we'll give it up right at the wrong place. We've got to follow the scouting report and everything for the whole game. I feel like if we can get one (win), that will really start boosting our confidence.'

AT C.R. PRAIRIE

C.R. XAVIER (66): Nolan Butkowski 0-3 0-0 0, Bryce Schulte 2-3 0-4 4, Max Techau 9-12 3-3 21, Matt Mims 10-14 3-4 28, Jackson Joens 4-9 1-1 11, Max Johnson 1-1 0-0 0, Quinn Schulte 0-1 0-0 0, Gabe Lux 0-1 0-0 0, Kyle Moeder 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-44 7-12 66.

C.R. PRAIRIE (70): Jake Eilers 5-11 0-0 15, Logan Serbousek 2-2 1-1 5, Max Smith Drahos 5-8 11-12 21, Keegan Murray 5-7 0-0 14, Griff Clark 2-6 8-11 13, Levi Usher 1-2 0-0 2, Kris Murray 0-2 0-0 0, Matt Lorenz 0-0 0-0 0, Darren Kilpatrick 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 20-40 20-24 70.

Halftime — Xavier 32, Prairie 29. 3-point goals — Xavier 7-13 (Butkowski 0-3, B. Schulte 0-1, Mims 5-6, Joens 2-3), Prairie 10-20 (Eilers 5-10, Smith Drahos 0-1, Ke. Murray 4-6, Clark 1-1, Kr. Murray 0-1, Kilpatrick 0-1). Rebounds — Xavier 23 (Butkowski 7), Prairie 16 (Clark 5). Total fouls — Xavier 17, Prairie 9. Fouled out — None. Turnovers — Xavier 11, Prairie 8.

l Comments: (319) 398-8259; jeff.johnson@thegazette.com