Jeff ends regular season with tough win over Prairie

CEDAR RAPIDS - And now the Cedar Rapids Jefferson J-Hawks get to rest.It's a full week until their first Class 4A substate basketball game. Call it a reward for a good regular season that ended last night with a 50-41 win over scrappy Cedar Rapids Prairie.“I look at it as a good thing,” said Jeff's Jarrod Uthoff. “We'll have plenty of time to prepare for (their opponent).”Uthoff was unstoppable offensively after curiously going scoreless with only one shot taken in the first quarter. The 6-foot-8 center was the recipient of lob pass after lob pass against an undersized Prairie team that had no chance against him on the interior.Uthoff's game-high 25 points came via layup, putback or at the free-throw line. Used to being banged around and double and triple-teamed, this game had to be a welcomed relief.“Definitely,” said Uthoff, who added a game-high 15 rebounds. “But it's never easy, though. Never easy.”“Jarrod Uthoff, the kid is going to get his. That's how it works,” said Prairie's Jacob Aune, who led his team with 13 points. “That was the game plan. We knew he was going to be putting up the shots. But it was a physical game. We can definitely take that out of this game and try to put that into every game from this point.”Jefferson (15-4) led after a quarter, 8-6, and at halftime, 23-17. The J-Hawks gradually extended their edge to a comfortable margin in the second half.Alec Saunders added 10 mostly interior points for Jeff, which will host either Western Dubuque or Waterloo East a week from tonight.“For us, a week off is good,” said Jefferson Coach Stu Ordman. “We've got a number of starters who have gotten a lot of minutes. So it should be good for us.”Prairie (3-17) will try to end an 11-game losing streak tonight in its regular-season finale tonight at home against Dubuque Hempstead. Its 4A substate opener is Monday at Waterloo West.“When we look at the standings, it kind of wears on us,” Aune said. “But we've all just got to understand we're still trying to get to that level. Coach (James) Moses has us on that perfect path.”Here is the game boxscore and a short video interview with Uthoff:

AT C.R. PRAIRIE

C.R. JEFFERSON (50): Alec Saunders 4-8 2-3 10, Jarrod Uthoff 9-16 7-11 25, Tyler Meiborg 0-2 1-2 1, Taylor Olson 1-4 1-2 3, Ky Kramer 3-6 0-0 7, Tyler Hemphill 1-1 0-1 2, Alexander Larson 0-1 0-0 0, Alexander Denny 1-1 0-0 2, Michael Rooney 0-1 0-0 0, Nathan Selberg 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 19-41 11-19 50.

C.R. PRAIRIE (41): Matt Jantzen 2-6 0-0 5, Brandon Lafferty 1-3 2-2 4, Chaz Boots 0-3 4-4 4, Jerome Frazier 1-6 0-0 2, Blaine Hilgenkamp 1-2 0-0 3, Jacob Aune 5-10 2-2 13, Tyler Mougin 1-3 0-0 2, Brooks Kehoe 1-2 0-1 3, Thomas Eilers 0-3 0-0 0, Matt MacDougall 1-6 0-0 2, Mitchell Adams 0-0 0-0 0, Luke Hanna 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 14-46 8-9 41.

Halftime - Jefferson 23, Prairie 17.

3-point goals - Jefferson 1-4 (Saunders 0-1, Uthoff 0-1, Olson 0-1, Kramer 1-1), Prairie 5-16 (Jantzen 1-2, Boots 0-1, Hilgenkamp 1-2, Aune 1-2, Kehoe 1-2, Eilers 0-3, MacDougall 1-3, Hanna 1-1).

Rebounds - Jefferson 25 (Uthoff 15), Prairie 27 (Frazier 9).

Total fouls - Jefferson 14, Prairie 18.

Fouled out - None.

Turnovers - Jefferson 9, Prairie 16[HTML1]