Cougars survive Washington rally

CEDAR RAPIDS – Hey, look at it this way. Hanging on is still better than not hanging on.

'Our intensity level completely dropped in the fourth quarter. It was just gone,” Cedar Rapids Kennedy guard Cole Murdock said, after his Cougars escaped Cedar Rapids Washington, 63-57, Tuesday night at Kennedy.

Escaped might be a bit strong, but perhaps not. After all, the Cougars did watch a 16-point lead after three quarters get knocked all the way down to three with just over a minute left.

Murdock hit a pair of crucial free throws, a couple of others followed suit, and Kennedy hung on, escaped or however you want to phrase it. A win's a win's a win.

And as Washington (1-2) will quickly tell you, a loss is a loss is a loss.

'The fourth quarter we just decided to turn it back on,” said Wash's Maurice Arrington. 'Get it back going, get our defense back going. We turned our defense up and hit some shots. Obviously it wasn't enough.”

That's because of Kennedy's 23-point third quarter explosion. The Cougars (3-1) shot it and defended it, continually getting deflections and steals that led to transition buckets.

Guys like Murdock, Zach Daniels and Bryton Heisler are quick and aggressive out front. On the offensive end, they can drive it and aren't shy about hoisting it.

It's a fun style of basketball to watch.

'We attack the ball defensively,” said Kennedy's Brendon Manning, who tied for game scoring honors with Murdock (13). 'Once that happens, the other guys flow out (defensively). We all just kind of run around, we got some tips and some steals.”

'We want to play aggressive like that,” Murdock said. 'Let our defense lead into our offense. As you saw, when our defense got hot, we started pulling away there.”

Washington sharpshooter Jared Printy wasn't sharp at all, going 1 for 12 from the field and missing all eight of his 3-point attempts, which was key. Junior guard Keion Wills led the Warriors with 11 points, and forward Keegan Moore had 11 rebounds.

It doesn't get any easier Friday night, with top-ranked Iowa City West coming to town.

'We'll be pumped for Friday night,” Arrington said. 'We'll continue that energy from the fourth quarter into that game.”

Kennedy also has a toughie Friday at Dubuque Hempstead.

'It was all about the intensity level tonight,” Murdock said. 'The third quarter we were getting steals, layups, fast-break layups, rebounding … We were just kind of waiting, hoping that someone else would get the job done instead of doing it ourselves.”

AT C.R. KENNEDY

C.R. WASHINGTON (57): Keegan Moore 3-9 1-2 7, Maurice Arrington 3-10 3-4 9, Keion Wills 4-9 2-2 10, Jared Printy 1-12 0-0 2, Drew Hoeger 2-4 2-2 8, Julian Good-Jones 2-2 1-1 5, Steven Kramer 3-6 0-0 8, Hunter Strait 0-0 0-0 0, Laveechie Williams 4-5 0-0 8, Noah Dawson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-57 9-11 57.

C.R. KENNEDY (63): Bryton Heisler 1-2 3-4 6, Drake Brewster 3-10 2-2 8, Brendon Manning 3-10 7-10 13, Cole Murdock 4-8 3-5 13, Zach Daniels 4-12 3-5 12, Maxson Techau 2-3 0-0 4, Matthew Gardner 2-3 0-0 4, Derek Girling 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-49 18-26 63.

Halftime – Kennedy 28, Washington 22. 3-point goals – Washington 4-21 (Moore 0-1, Wills 0-3, Printy 0-8, Hoeger 2-4, Kramer 2-5), Kennedy 5-14 (Heisler 1-2, Brewster 0-1, Murdock 2-6, Daniels 1-4, Gardner 1-1). Rebounds – Washington 36 (Moore 11), Kennedy 24 (Manning 8). Total fouls – Washington 21, Kennedy 9. Fouled out – None. Turnovers – Washington 14, Kennedy 7.

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