Prairie begins season with lollipop good 63-50 win over Davenport West

CEDAR RAPIDS - They're going to get more than three. No doubt about that.

It's just a matter of how many more games the Cedar Rapids Prairie Hawks are going to win than last season.

“This was very important,” Prairie Coach James Moses said after his team's season-opening 63-50 victory over Davenport West. “We have great support ... We have people here who believe in what we're capable of doing. Getting that first win was really nice.”

The former University of Iowa guard is in his second season at Prairie, and his reclamation job of this program seems to be right on track. The Hawks suffered through a 53-game Mississippi Valley Conference losing streak that ended in 2009-10.

They went 2-19 that season, 3-19 a season ago. First they've had to learn how to be competitive.

The next step is going beyond that and winning.

“This gives us a lot of confidence,” said senior forward Matt MacDougall, who had a game-high 19 points and 10 rebounds. “I've been working all summer, the whole team has. This is the time to show the experience we've gained, the work we've done. It will set the tone for the rest of the season, that's for sure. I'm happy to get this first win.”

And this first win wasn't just over any little old slug-nutty. West was 19-4 last season, losing in a Class 4A substate final.

Sure, the Falcons graduated 7-footer Nate Wells, who's a freshman at Bradley. But leading scorer Joe Scott is among the returnees.

In short, this was nicely done, Hawks.

“I thought we did some things well,” Moses said. “I thought we were inpatient in our offensive sets, but that's just the beginning (of the season). Playing that first game, sometimes you can get a little stage fright and want to quick hit, quick hit, quick hit.”

Prairie led from midway through the first quarter on. Thomas Eilers added 12 points for Prairie, which shot just 44 percent from the field, while Jacob Aune had nine points and nine boards.

Lightning-quick guard Scott had 17 for West. Prairie hosts North Scott on Thursday night.

Here is the game boxscore:

AT C.R. PRAIRIE

DAVENPORT WEST (50): Marlon Stewart 2-6 3-4 7, Dylan Beckman 0-2 0-0 0, Cole Tatge 4-8 2-3 10, Darren Stringfellow 2-8 4-7 8, Joe Scott 7-17 1-4 17, Nasir Shabazz 2-6 0-0 6, Tyrus Johnson 0-2 2-2 2, Devonne Brown 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-39 12-20 50.

C.R. PRAIRIE (63): Jacob Aune 4-9 0-2 9, Thomas Eilers 3-8 5-6 12, Matt MacDougall 8-14 2-2 19, Jace Hanna 1-2 4-6 7, Brooks Kehoe 1-4 2-2 5, Tyler Mougin 0-2 0-0 0, Kentrel Smith 1-3 1-2 3, Demetrius Harper 3-5 0-0 6, Bryce Meeker 1-3 0-0 2, Garrett Rasmussen 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-50 14-20 63.

Halftime - Prairie 27, West 23.

3-point goals - West 4-18 (Stewart 0-1, Tatge 0-3, Scott 2-9, Shabazz 2-5), Prairie 5-16 (Hanna 1-2, Eilers 1-6, MacDougall 1-2, Aune 1-2, Kehoe 1-3, Mougin 0-1).

Rebounds - West 30 (Tatge 7), Prairie 36 (MacDougall 10, Aune 9).

Total fouls - West 22, Prairie 23.

Fouled out- None.

Turnovers - West 17, Prairie 14.