Short-handed Cedar Rapids Xavier boys hoops team gets past scrappy C.R. Washington

CEDAR RAPIDS - They’re good right now. They’re undefeated right now. They’re also short-handed right now.

All of which makes you wonder what the quality of these Cedar Rapids Xavier Saints is going to be when all of their pieces return. The educated guess is potentially great.

State tournament great. Possibly state champion great.

A 67-57 win over gritty Cedar Rapids Washington at Ron Thillen Gymnasium moved Xavier’s boys team to 4-0 as the Christmas break hits. All-state guard Zander Murray poured in 29 points to help offset the absence of starting center A.J. Evans.

The 6-foot-9 senior and James Madison University signee is out with a sprained ankle, though is expected to return after the holiday break. So, too, should sophomore guard Andrew Allen, who Saints Coach Mike Freeman said will have a role for his team.

In the new year, all the football guys on this team should have “basketball legs” instead of “football legs.” Look out the rest of Class 3A, let alone all of Xavier’s upcoming opponents in the Mississippi Valley Conference.

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“It’s been different, but it has given other guys opportunities,” Freeman said. “Guys like Brady O’Donnell and Caleb Loffswold have stepped up big time, played hard, so we’ve gotten contributions from all over, and that’s our mentality.”

Murray made 11 of 16 shots from the field in this game, powering through the lane to score or get fouled. He has incredible elevation on his jump shot, being able to go over opposing defenders.

“As coaches, we’ve challenged him on the defensive end and with sharing the ball,” Freeman said. “Tonight he got it going a little bit, but we talked to him at halftime about ‘Hey, you took hard shots. Let’s get it to guys who are open.’ And I thought he did a better job in the second half.

“Zander is a talented kid, but we’re all about our team and whatever it takes. He got us going, then honestly I thought he did a much better job of getting other guys involved.”

Lorenzo Pino added 14 points for Xavier and the aforementioned O’Donnell 13. Xavier shot 53 percent from the field and made 14 free throws to Washington’s two.

Wash led by a point after the first quarter, with Xavier scoring the final five points of the second quarter for a 31-26 halftime lead. Xavier then built a 43-33 lead midway through the third, only to have Washington close within 45-41 after the quarter.

It was a two-point game going down the stretch, and Washington had the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead with 3:39 left. But Xavier came up with enough defensive stops to put it away.

Sophomore guard Trae Fields had 17 points for Washington, though he worked to get them, going just 6 of 16 from the field. Guard Will Rahe and center Brian Robertson added 14 points each, going a combined 13 of 17 from the field.

Washington (2-3) has lost three games in a row, though they have been to good teams from the city: Kennedy, Linn-Mar and now Xavier.

“I liked the way our effort got us back in the game,” Washington Coach Nate Garner said. “I liked how we played. Our previous couple of games, we kind let the other teams’ leads expand from, like, two and four to six and 14. But they showed some fight tonight, held their own, got some stops and then scored and executed our offense pretty well to get right back into the game.”

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AT CEDAR RAPIDS XAVIER

CEDAR RAPIDS WASHINGTON (57): Zaccai Watters 4-7 0-0 9, Brian Robertson 6-7 2-2 14, Will Rahe 7-10 0-0 14, Chuck Crawley 1-10 0-0 3, Traeshon Fields 6-16 2-2 17, Juma Aruna 0-1 0-0 0, Javion Seals 0-0 0-0 0, Quinton Garner 0-0 0-0 0, William Stastny 0-1 0-0 0, Trei Crowder 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-51 4-4 57.

CEDAR RAPIDS XAVIER (67): Sam Leuck 1-2 0-0 2, Brady O’Donnell 5-10 2-2 13, Lorenzo Pino 4-11 5-6 14, Zander Murray 11-16 7-10 29, Caleb Loffswald 2-5 0-0 5, Carter Hoffmann 2-3 0-2 4, Nolan Wilgenbusch 0-0 0-0 0, Dawson Doyle 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-47 14-20 67.

Halftime - Xavier 31, Washington 26. 3-point goals - Washington 5-22 (Walters 1-3, Rahe 0-2, Crawley 1-8, Fields 3-9), Xavier 3-14 (O’Donnell 1-4, Pino 1-5, Murray 0-3, Loffswald 1-2). Rebounds - Washington 22 (Walters, Robertson, Fields 4), Xavier 28 (Loffswald, Hoffmann 7). Total fouls - Washington 18, Xavier 8. Technical foul - Crawley. Fouled out - Crawley. Turnovers - Washington 16, Xavier 16.

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