Late Nelson shot gives Xavier its first win of the season (w/video)

CEDAR RAPIDS - They've been just good enough to lose so far this season. Tuesday night, the Cedar Rapids Xavier Saints were just good enough to win.

Sophomore center Matt Nelson's driving shot in the late going and a defensive stand in the even later going allowed Xavier to get a much-needed 37-36 victory over Iowa City High. That's a collective sigh of relief you hear from a club that hadn't quite been able to close the deal against some top-notch competition.

“We just played together as a team tonight,” Nelson said. “This was a team win. We lose as a team, we win as a team. It was getting a little frustrating. But you've got to battle back.”

The 6-foot-8 Nelson and teammate Kevin Hosch executed the old pick-and-roll to give Xavier (1-4) its winning points. Nelson set the high pick for Hosch near the top of the key, rolled to the low left block, received a perfect pass and banked home a shot with 25 seconds left.

It was his only field goal of the game.

“He just found me wide open inside,” said Nelson, who finished with five points.

“That's what we wanted,” said Xavier Coach Matt Jenkins. “We want to utilize our big guys. They're mobile, they're able to spread, they can step out a little bit. When you have those type of athletes, there are a lot of things you can do. They did a good job of executing.”

City High (1-3) was able to work for a final shot, but Jerel Moore's contested turnaround to the right of the hoop crawled off the rim.

“We executed the play, but they just played really good defense,” said Moore, who had a game-high 16 points.

This was obviously an offensively challenged tilt with City High unable to shoot over Xavier's 2-3 zone defense and Xavier unable to get many good looks against City High's consistent trapping and pressure. City High led by as many as seven in the third quarter but didn't score the final 5:44.

Moore's whirling lane shot gave the Little Hawks a 36-35 lead with 1:55 left, but he missed an and-one free throw, and Lonnie Chester aired an ensuing one-and-one to give Xavier another chance it took advantage of. The Saints lost their first four games by an average of five points, playing ranked teams Mount Pleasant, Waverly-Shell Rock and Cedar Rapids Kennedy.

“Our guys don't let up in practice,” Jenkins said. “They understand the situation. We know what kind of competition we have, the type of schedule we have ... We had those real close calls with Mount Pleasant and (West Des Moines) Dowling, and that helped us in this game.”

Here is the game boxscore and three short videos. First is of Xavier's last offensive possession, the second of City High's last offensive possession, and the third an interview with Nelson:

AT C.R. XAVIER

IOWA CITY HIGH (36): Ronald Thompson 0-5 1-2 1, Tony Perry 1-5 1-2 3, Jerel Moore 7-15 2-4 16, Alex Perry 3-4 0-0 7, Cortez Barfield 1-6 1-1 3, Andrew Hein 1-1 0-0 2, Jeremy Johnson 1-2 0-0 2, Jasper Washington 0-2 2-2 2, Ryan Young 0-0 0-0 0, Lonnie Chester 0-1 0-1 0, Mohamed Rouabhi 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 14-43 7-12 36.

C.R. XAVIER (37): Carter Valentine 5-6 0-2 10,. Mack Mattke 2-3 5-7 10, Kevin Hosch 0-2 0-0 0, Matt Nelson 1-5 3-4 5, Ben McDermott 1-5 0-0 3, Alec Clasen 2-2 2-4 6, Trey Sampson 1-4 0-0 3, Brian Ropp 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 12-29 10-17 37.

Halftime - Iowa City High 22, C.R. Xavier 19. 3-point goals - Iowa City High 1-7 (Thompson 0-1, T. Perry 0-1, Moore 0-1, A. Perry 1-1, Chester 0-1, Rouabhi 2-2), C.R. Xavier 3-11 (Mattke 1-2, Hosch 0-1, McDermott 1-3, Sampson 1-3, Ropp 0-2). Rebounds - Iowa City High 30 (Moore 8, Thompson 7), C.R. Xavier 22 (Nelson 8). Total fouls - Iowa City High 12, C.R. Xavier 10. Fouled out - None. Turnovers - Iowa City High 14, C.R. Xavier 16.

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