Bench, defense sparks Xavier to romp over Washington

CEDAR RAPIDS - When the guys you bring off your bench are pushing your starters for most points, that's a good thing. Most of the time.

And it sure was Tuesday night for Cedar Rapids Xavier, which got a stellar effort from its reserves and its defense in a 58-42 win over Cedar Rapids Washington at the Warrior gym.

“Phenomenal,” said Xavier Coach Matt Jenkins. “They were phenomenal tonight. Every guy that stepped in, played hard. They played hard, they played together. It's something we haven't done. For four quarters, play consistently together offensively and defensively.”

It was the latter thing that helped lead to the former thing. Xavier (3-7) aggressively trapped Washington (0-8), completely taking it out of its offense and leading to points the other way.

The Warriors turned it over 24 times, falling behind at halftime, 28-12. It was a 47-25 game after three quarters.

This was all Saints.

“We were able to extend our defense, get some buckets off defense,” said Xavier's Brian Ropp. “We really got out there, and we really shot the ball well.”

That's Ropp included. The 6-foot-5 senior forward came in averaging two points per game but popped for a team-high 13, including three 3s.

Tanner Frazier was next in line with nine points, also off the bench. Xavier's reserves posted 26 numbers, not quite half the Saints' total, but still a significant spark, for sure.

“We had Tanner, Alec Clasen, Trey Sampson,” Ropp said, crediting his teammates. “They came off the bench and did a great job. It was a great team effort.”

Xavier's record is sort of misleading considering its strength of schedule. It has lost to three teams that are or have been ranked in Class 4A (Cedar Rapids Kennedy, Cedar Falls and Iowa City West), as well as four ranked 3A teams (Waverly-Shell Rock, Davenport Assumption, Mount Pleasant and Western Dubuque).

“Yeah, it's been a grind,” Ropp said. “We just try and go out there every time and get better. It shows once we get out here. We've been able to beat the teams we're supposed to beat.”

Washington, meanwhile, continues to look for positives in a murky, rebuilding season. Center Sean Bredl did post a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds, but mostly the Warriors struggled, shooting 33 percent from the field and making only 2 of 19 shots from distance.

“They're very physical, feisty,” Jenkins said. “Watching them play, they didn't give up at all. The thing was we had to match their intensity and take it to another level. We did that.”

Here is the game boxscore and a short video interview with Ropp:

AT C.R. WASHINGTON

C.R. XAVIER (58): Kevin Hosch 3-4 2-6 8, Mac Mattke 2-6 4-4 8, Matt Nelson 2-3 1-4 5, Carter Valentine 0-3 3-6 3, Ben McDermott 2-5 2-3 7, Trey Sampson 0-0 0-0 0, Alec Clasen 2-4 0-1 4, Brian Ropp 4-7 2-4 13, Tanner Frazier 4-7 0-0 9, Reggie Schulte 0-0 0-0 0, Corbin Woods 0-1 0-2 0, Patrick Mullin 0-0 0-0 0, Zach Brown 0-0 0-0 0, Robbie Thinnes 0-0 0-0 0, Benjamin Breitbach 0-0 0-0 0, Gregory Foxhoven 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 19-41 15-32 58.

C.R. WASHINGTON (42): Sean Bredl 5-12 2-3 12, Jason Oney 2-8 2-2 7, Peter Holmes 0-3 0-0 0, Cybryan Moa 2-7 1-2 5, David Tann 3-4 0-1 6, David Rosenthal 1-5 0-0 2, Heath Clark 0-0 0-0 0, Paul Nash 2-5 0-0 4, Austin Bergstrom 0-2 0-0 0, Zachary Williams 0-1 1-2 1, Brock Butterfield 1-3 0-0 3, Noah Burdt 0-0 0-0 0, Lucas Pint 0-0 0-0 0, Sam Bil 1-2 0-0 2, Logan Schulte 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-52 6-10 42.

Halftime - Xavier 28, Washington 12. 3-point goals - Xavier 5-16 (Mattke 0-4, McDermott 1-3, Ropp 3-5, Frazier 1-3, Woods 0-1), Washington 2-19 (Oney 1-7, Moa 0-4, Bergstrom 0-2, Williams 0-1, Butterfield 1-3, Bil 0-1). Rebounds - Xavier 30 (Clasen 7), Washington 33 (Bredl 10). Total fouls - Xavier 13, Washington 20. Fouled out - None. Technical fouls - Bredl, Xavier bench (playing player not listed in official scorebook). Turnovers - Xavier 16, Washington 24.

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