Wright has breakout game for DeWitt Central, bounces Benton

CEDAR RAPIDS – Length was the name of the game.

When DeWitt Central and Benton Community met in a Class 3A substate final, size was in the Sabres' favor. The No. 6 team in 3A used that to get to the rim early and often en route to its first state tournament berth since 2007, 58-47.

'In an atmosphere like this, sometimes jumpers are hard to get,' said DeWitt Coach Jeff Frick. 'We did emphasize to get to the rim, finish at the rim and get to the line.'

The Sabres, who finished just 10-12 last year, did that most effectively with guards Christian Wright and McClain Steffens, who went a combined 12 of 17 from the line.

Wright finished with a game-high 24 points, while Steffens added 12. Benton Coach Larry Carlson said stopping Wright was job No. 1 on the game plan.

But sometimes, he said, it's just your night.

'We were trying to take him out – No. 5 (Kyle Bauer) and 22 (Wright) were probably our main focus points,' Carlson said. 'When he (Wright) needs too, he can be a scorer.

'And you've got to give (Steffens) credit too, he didn't back down. He hit some big shots for them too, and hit some free throws at a timely moment.'

Knowing who they had to key on, Benton made a concerted effort to get to the rim themselves, and perhaps draw fouls. Owen Hopkins was the most successful slashing to the rim, getting all but three of his team-leading 15 points off the bench on drives or pull-up jumpers in the paint.

The strategy was somewhat effective, as Bauer had to sit early in the third quarter and was held below his season average of 15.3 at nine points on 4 of 7 shooting.

Despite that boost, Benton wasn't able to finish at the rim like they'd hoped.

'We attacked a little bit and we didn't quite get the shots we wanted,' Carlson said. 'But that's a credit to DeWitt, they played pretty good defense in that area.

'There was times we attacked – and they're long, they're a little bit longer than us. We're a little undersized, we know that. We talked a lot about shot fakes and attacks. … I think the length kind of started to get to us in our head as we went on.'

The two teams traded shots in the first half, but DeWitt wore down Benton in the second half – not just psychologically as Carlson said, but also physically.

Wright had a breakout performance with 24 points – a career-high after averaging 9.4 to this point – but also led the team with seven rebounds, several of which came in crunch time.

A player having his best game when the team leader is forced to sit with foul trouble is the story of the season. And it came just in time.

'Christian had a great game, he stepped up,' Frick said. 'That's been the trademark of this team this year. Whenever something happens, someone seems to step up and have a good game. Christian definitely stepped up tonight.'

DeWitt earned a No. 3 seed for the Class 3A state tournament, and will play No. 6-seed MOC-Floyd Valley at 6:35 p.m. on March 11. 

AT CEDAR RAPIDS KENNEDY

BENTON COMMUNITY (47): Nate Woeste 3-15 2-3 10, Cam Touro 0-5 0-0 0, Ben Twedt 3-8 0-0 6, TJ Morris 3-3 1-1 8, Tucker Schroeder 4-7 0-1 8, Andrew Thompson 0-0 0-0 0, Owen Hopkins 6-9 3-7 15, Hunter Semelroth 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 19-48 6-12 47.

DEWITT CENTRAL (58): McClain Steffens 3-8 5-9 12, Trevor Green 0-2 0-0 0, Kyle Bauer 4-7 0-0 9, Christian Wright 7-11 7-8 24, Jordan Cornelius 0-2 0-0 0, Marty Green 3-4 2-5 8, Lucas Daniels 2-4 1-2 5, Ryan Burke 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 19-39 15-24 58.

Halftime – DeWitt Central 22, Benton Community 19. 3-point goals – Benton 3-16 (Woeste 2-8, Touro 0-5, Twedt 0-1, Morris 1-1, Hopkins 0-1), DeWitt 5-11 (Steffens 1-2, Green 0-1, Bauer 1-2, Wright 3-5, Semelroth 0-1). Rebounds – Benton 21 (Twedt 9), DeWitt 27 (Wright 7). Total fouls – Benton 19, DeWitt 14.. Fouled out – Hopkins, Benton. Turnovers – Benton 10, DeWitt 10.