Cedar Rapids Kennedy boys’ basketball: A heaven 11 straight wins

CEDAR RAPIDS — The players knew. At least one of the players knew.

“It’s 11,” Cedar Rapids Kennedy forward Jackson Bowman correctly replied when asked if he knew to what his team’s win streak has grown.

The same question had been asked about five minutes earlier to Kennedy head coach Jon McKowen, who claimed he had no idea. It didn’t look like he was joshing around, either.

“We play Xavier next on Tuesday night. That’s all I know,” McKowen said.

As Bowman reported, Kennedy has won a heaven 11 consecutive games after getting past Cedar Rapids Washington, 66-58, Friday night on the southeast side. Four players scored in double figures for the Class 4A fourth-ranked Cougars (14-2), who haven’t lost since Dec. 17 to rival Linn-Mar (70-63).

That loss since has been avenged, this team’s on a roll, will be the top seed in its 4A substate, a substate it easily could negotiate its way through and get to the state tournament. A substate in which it very well could meet Washington (9-8) for a third time this season.

“I think it’s been our adaptation to what the other team is letting us do that night. Our defense is always locking down, and our offense is able to rely on our shooters most nights, or our inside guys every night,” said Bowman, who had a late dunk that pretty much sealed this entertaining game.

He finished with 13 points, as did guard Colby Dolphin. Carson Blietz had a team-high 14 points and forward Cyrus Courtney 11 off the bench.

Kennedy shot 67 percent from the field in the first half and made five of its 10 3-point attempts to build a 37-30 halftime lead. The Cougars maintained a similarly sized advantage through the majority of the second half, though Wash did make a couple of runs to make it extra tight.

A Traijan Sain and-one three-point play made it a 44-42 game with 1:59 left in the third quarter, only to have Kennedy respond to score the final four points of the quarter. Washington again got within a pair twice in the fourth quarter, 55-53 with 3:45 left, and 57-55 with 2:47 to go, when Sain brought the house down with a follow dunk off a Jesse Sellers missed 3-pointer.

Sain, a lengthy 6-foot-5 junior who is getting interest from mid-major Division I college programs, finished with a game-best 18 points and 10 rebounds. Sellers had three 3s and 17 points.

But each time Wash got within two, Kennedy responded with a hoop, a foul and free throws or getting a defensive turnover. Washington suffered 15 of those, with that and a 4-for-10 performance from the free-throw line pretty telling stats.

“Great teams win in a bunch of different ways,” McKowen said. “We win by scoring in the 80s, we win by scoring in the 50s, we win by grinding it out on defense. It’s just kind of a credit to the kids because the gym’s going crazy, they put a little run on us, we call timeout and our personalities, you couldn’t tell if we were up 10, up five, down five. This is a pretty steady group. They know that we were kind of still in control, that we just had to make a few plays. That’s what we did down the stretch.”

There is no question Washington has closed the gap on Kennedy since it lost by 20 points in the first matchup early in the season and this one came down to the final couple of minutes. A third matchup in the postseason, perhaps with a trip to state on the line, could provide some pretty good theatre.

“I definitely feel like we’ve made a lot of improvement,” said Sain. “A lot of times coming out here, they’ve always been a good team, they’re always going to be a good team, it’s knowing how to beat them rather that just going out there and beating them. You know what I mean?”

AT CEDAR RAPIDS WASHINGTON

CEDAR RAPIDS KENNEDY (66): Jackson Bowman 6-9 0-0 13, Craig Mills 0-1 1-2 1, Colby Dolphin 4-9 4-4 13, Carson Blietz 5-8 0-0 14, Kenzie Reed 3-7 3-4 9, Cyrus Courney 5-7 0-0 11, Gannon Hall 1-1 0-0 2, Carter Newhouse 1-3 0-0 3. Totals 25-45 6-10 66.

CEDAR RAPIDS WASHINGTON (58): J.J. Willis 3-5 0-0 6, Traijan Sain 8-14 2-3 18, Jaden Harris 3-4 1-3 8, Will Hodges 3-5 1-2 8, Jesse Sellers 7-14 0-0 17, Stevie Cain 0-0 0-0 0, Bryce Brim 0-1 0-0 0, Omoro Crusoe 0-0 0-2 0. Totals 24-43 4-10 58.

Halftime - Kennedy 37, Washington 30. 3-point goals - Kennedy 8-22 (Bowman 0-2, Dolphin 1-3, Blietz 4-7, Reed 0-4, Courtney 1-3, Newhouse 1-3), Washington 6-14 (Sain 0--1, Harris 1-1, Hodges 2-3, Sellers 3-8, Brim 0-1). Rebounds - Kennedy 17 (Bowman 4), Washington 24 (Sain 10). Total fouls - Kennedy 9, Washington 10. Fouled out - None. Turnovers - Kennedy 8, Washington 15.

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