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Cedar Rapids Prairie can’t follow up huge win
Hawks upset Cedar Rapids Kennedy on Friday night but fall Saturday morning to Ames at Crossover Challenge, 60-38
Jan. 4, 2025 7:09 pm
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CEDAR RAPIDS - It always was going to be a hard ask. Turned out to be an impossible one for the Cedar Rapids Prairie boys’ basketball team.
A mere 14 hours after a signature win Friday night at Cedar Rapids Kennedy, the Hawks took the Alliant Energy PowerHouse court Saturday morning at the ServPro Crossover Challenge. And it did not go well.
Ames was the fresher and significantly better team in a 60-38 victory. This sure looked like a Kennedy hangover.
“We addressed it right away at 8 a.m.,” Prairie Coach Todd Kuntz said. “We came in early, had breakfast this morning together, watched film down in the locker room with game stuff, did our scout. It was just like right away, this is our validation point, validate what we did last night. The thing is last night was a great win for us, but we knew we were in that game, we knew we had a chance to win. That wasn’t a fluke. We know we can play with anyone, have that ability.
“But I told them to be able to bounce back the next day and do it again, that’s going to be a whole other story. We knew what Ames brought. They brought a physicality that we hadn’t seen ... They’re always going to be tough, they’re always going to play defense.”
Ames (7-1) did play tough defense here, but that wasn’t the only reason Prairie was an absymal 2-for-24 shooting from the field in the first half. Kuntz said he felt his team didn’t move the ball properly offensively and took too many 3-point shots from way beyond the 3-point line.
That happens at this arena, as the court has three different arcs painted on it: for prep, college and professional games.
Ames scored the first 13 points, with Prairie not getting its first point until Will Wehr hit a 3-pointer with 58 seconds left in the first quarter. It was a 35-10 Little Cyclones lead at halftime.
“Unfortunately we didn’t answer the call,” Kuntz said. “I’m not going to make any excuses. I think in essence what it comes down to is we’re young, we’re immature. Not really immature, just not mature (in the sense of) we’re getting there, we’re learning. We have some inexperienced guys that are younger. For us to be able to get to where we need, we’re going to need to figure out what it takes every day to play 32 minutes.”
Guard Abram Vos led Ames with 20 points, including 18 in the first half. He came into the game averaging 6.3 a game.
Sophomore center Cayden Larson led Prairie (4-2) with 13 points off the bench. The Hawks’ 70-68 win Friday night was the first time a Metro opponent beat Kennedy since January 2020.
“We saw this weekend how good we can be and how resilient we’ve got to be and be able to bounce back when we get hit in the face,” Kuntz said. “We’re learning.”
Comments: (319)-398-8258, jeff.johnson@thegazette.com
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