C.R. Prairie boys basketball team celebrates long-awaited first home game with a win

CEDAR RAPIDS - Finally a home game. Finally, finally, finally, finally.

Weird how Cedar Rapids Prairie’s boys basketball team had to be on the road for its first four games this season. It was not quite three weeks of roadies with only one of them in the Metro: that at Linn-Mar.

Other than that, it was to Davenport to take on North. It was to Epworth to face Western Dubuque. It was in Waterloo to play West.

The vagaries of a schedule sometimes.

“It was very comforting,” said Prairie’s Tae Alexander, after the Hawks brushed past Cedar Rapids Kennedy, 78-60, Monday night on the far southwest side. “Getting the home crowd into it, it’s been hard fighting as the away team all the time. We can really feed off the crowd’s energy more, just play more together.”

Prairie (3-3) definitely played together, showing off outstanding ball movement that created a lot of open shots. The Hawks made a ton of them, too, shooting 61 percent from the field, including making 14-of-26 attempts from 3-point range.

Alexander had three threes, Austin Joens four. Joens led Prairie with 20 points, followed by Alexander (15), Will Wehr (12) and Cayden Larson (12).

Prairie set a school record with 18 made 3s in his previous game at West. Here it was “just” 14.

“It was a great environment tonight. Fun to play,” Joens said. “Obviously playing Kennedy is always fun because they’ve been on top, and that’s who we’ve been trying to chase the past few years. To play them at home and get the win felt great.”

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Joens and Alexander make a nice backcourt for Prairie. Six-foot-7 Cayden Larson provides height in the middle, David Fason is a beefy and strong power forward and Will Wehr a true wing.

The Hawks won 19 games and a Mississippi Valley Conference divisional championship last season, losing in a Class 4A substate final. There were lofty preseason expectations for this group, though it lost its first two games, to North and Linn-Mar.

This was Prairie’s third straight win going into the holiday break.

“I think we’ve just become a lot more connected as a team,” Joens said. “Coach brought us together and told us winning will solve everything. So instead of trying to chase our own stuff, if we win, anything will come our way that we want as a team.”

Coach Todd Kuntz was asked if his club is improved from a week and a half ago.

“We’re certainly a better team,” Kuntz said. “I think that no matter what, at the end of the day, the hype, the publicity coming into the season ... those are things that we don’t really care about as adults but the kids eat up. We’re human, and we get caught thinking about this and this. I’ve got the nicest kids, nicest to a fault. But those first two games, the ball just didn’t move the way it normally does for us. We weren’t quite as unselfish as we normally are.

“I think once you experience success, it’s a natural healer. I think we’re playing a little bit harder, but I think more than anything, we’ve gotten back to who we are. Last season we were so unselfish. If you watched us last year, the ball moves ... To a T, that’s who we are.”

Kennedy (2-3) hung around for a half, trailing at halftime only by a 34-28 margin. But Prairie went on a third-quarter run to take as much as a 14-point lead.

The Cougars are a work in progress, considering two freshmen play key roles. Power forward Deacon Kucera returned to the starting lineup for the first time Monday night, and he will provide a much needed interior presence.

Kennedy’s scoring here was spread out, with no player scoring in double figures.

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AT CEDAR RAPIDS PRAIRIE

CEDAR RAPIDS KENNEDY (60): Sharief Thomas 3-10 0-0 9, Justin Powell 3-7 0-0 8, Deacon Kucera 3-5 0-0 6, Carter Cook 3-6 0-0 7, Jaxson Bean 3-10 2-5 8, Kaden Gomez 1-4 2-3 5, Drew McKowen 3-3 0-0 8, Lawson Neighbor 3-3 0-0 7, Jacob Solberg 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-48 4-8 60.

CEDAR RAPIDS PRAIRIE (78): Will Wehr 4-8 2-5 12, David Fason 1-3 4-4 6, Cayden Larson 5-8 0-0 12, Austin Joens 7-12 2-2 20, Tae Alexander 6-9 0-0 15, Collin McClintock 0-0 0-0 0, Eli Borschel 1-2 2-2 5, Ayden Meier 1-1 1-2 4, Colt Hobson 0-0 0-0 0, Caleb Eckert 1-1 0-0 2, Jayden Stumpff 1-2 0-0 2, Owen Marxen 0-0 0-0 0, Zach Stuecker 0-0 0-0 0, Furious Humrich 0-0 0-0 0, Akrum Mohammed 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-46 11-15 78.

Halftime - Prairie 34, Kennedy 28. 3-point goals - Kennedy 10-26 (Thomas 3-8, Powell 2-4, Cook 1-3, Bean 0-4, Gomez 1-4, McKowen 2-2, Neighbor 1-1), Prairie 14-26 (Wehr 2-6, Fason 0-2, Larson 2-3, Joens 4-8, Alexander 3-3, Borschel 1-2, Meier 1-1, Stumpff 0-1). Rebounds - Kennedy 16 (Bean 5), Prairie 31 (Wehr, Fason 6). Total fouls - Kennedy 15, Prairie 11. Fouled out - None. Turnovers - Kennedy 9, Prairie 12.

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