Carter clutches up late, helps Kennedy past Washington in OT

CEDAR RAPIDS – A.J. Carter would probably like to throw away most of the game. But the ending?That was a keeper.“My teammates were just picking me up all the time,” the senior guard said after helping Cedar Rapids Kennedy past Cedar Rapids Washington, 58-54, in an overtime thriller Friday night at Wash. “They were telling me they needed me, that I've got to come around.”He came around, all right, scoring 10 of his 16 points at the end of regulation and in overtime. That included six clutch free throws in the final 36 seconds that cinched things.Kennedy can make it 5-1 headed to the holiday break with a win Saturday night at Center Point-Urbana. Not bad considering a new head coach and a late start for a lot of these guys because of football.“If you were to tell us at the beginning that we'd be 5-1 at Christmas, I'd have been happy with it,” said Coach Jon McKowen.“Coach just said to get a big win here and then finish it off tomorrow night with another road win,” Carter said. “We've finally got a home game coming back over Christmas break, so we should be able to keep it rolling, keep it rolling.”Kennedy led by as many as a dozen points, only to have a young Washington team claw its way back. The Warriors (1-4) took a 43-41 lead on an inside turnaround with 2:05 left by 6-foot-6 junior Maurice Arrington and had what looked to be the last shot of regulation.But Bryton Heisler (remember that name) stole a pass near the center line, dribbled down court and was fouled with 14 seconds to go. He missed a one-and-one free throw, with Montaves Anderson's driving attempt baseline at the buzzer coming up short.“We're an inexperienced group,” said Washington Coach Adam Sanchez. “That's a new situation, one we haven't been in. I think our guys handled themselves very well. On my end, I've got to do some things better to give us a better chance to win.”Carter hit a lane jumper for the first points of OT, then the ever-present Heisler stole another pass near midcourt and drove for a layup and a 49-45 Cougars lead. Washington would get within two points but never with the ball and a chance to tie or go ahead.Arrington and sophomore guard Jared Printy had 17 points each for Washington. Printy nailed five 3-pointers.“Jared is a kid that lives in the gym and wants to be good," Sanchez said. “And Arrington, he's just scratching the surface. He's got so much upside. If he continues to work the way he has, buys into what we're doing, he's got a bright future.”Cole Murdock added 11 points for Kennedy.“It seemed like the lid was on the basket for us for awhile,” McKowen said. “But we continued to battle and got to the free-throw line.”Carter finished 9 of 12 from the stripe, by the way. He was a 55-percent shooter there last season.“I think I'm getting better. I'm better than last year," he said. "I've worked on it a lot. That and my jump shooting, trying to improve that. So I could have more of an offensive game than just attacking the basket.”Here is the game boxscore:

AT C.R. WASHINGTON

C.R. KENNEDY (58): Drew Heitland 1-4 0-2 2, Bryton Heisler 3-5 0-1 6, Cole Murdock 4-8 0-0 11, A.J. Carter 3-11 9-12 16, Zach Daniels 3-7 1-2 9, J.B. Bil 2-4 0-0 5, Brandon Buck 2-2 0-0 4, John Bardsley 2-4 1-2 5, Austin Holzer 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-45 11-19 58.

C.R. WASHINGTON (54): Razadon Taylor 0-3 2-6 2, Maurice Arrington 8-12 1-1 17, Montaves Anderson 0-2 1-2 1, Reid Snitker 1-6 2-2 4, Jake Kramer 2-6 0-0 4, C.J. Nelson 1-4 0-0 2, Jared Printy 5-10 2-2 17, Julian Good-Jones 0-0 0-0 0, Keegan Moore 3-4 1-5 7. Totals 20-47 9-18 54.

Halftime - Kennedy 29, Washington 24.

End of Regulation - 47-47.

3-point goals - Kennedy 7-15 (Daniels 2-4, Carter 1-2, Bil 1-2, Murdock 3-6, Heisler 0-1), Washington 5-18 (Nelson 0-2, Taylor 0-1, Kramer 0-4, Arrington 0-1, Printy 5-10).

Rebounds - Kennedy 31 (Heitland, Carter 7), Washington 36 (Taylor, Snitker, Arrington 6). Total fouls - Kennedy 14, Washington 19.

Fouled out - Anderson.

Turnovers - Kennedy 17, Washington 25.