Moore helps City High past Prairie, 50-42

IOWA CITY -- By halftime, he already was beginning to look sleepy, resting his head on his grandma's shoulder. By the end of the game, little 16-month-old Parker Moore was zonked - sound asleep on the top row of the bleachers, laying on a blanket.

The little guy missed all the fun.

"I'm pretty young, but it's nice having a kid," said Parker's dad, Jerel Moore, after he helped Iowa City High to a 50-42 win over Cedar Rapids Prairie in a Class 4A substate opener Monday night. "I like having him around. It's a good thing."

As was Jerel's performance. He scored a game-high 16 points and had several nifty passes on the fastbreak as City High (8-14) pulled away in the fourth quarter to win the rubber match between the teams.

It seemed like every time you turned around, Moore was flying down the right side of the court in transition and dishing to Ronald Thompson for a layup. Thompson finished with 11 points off the bench, including making five of six free throws, significant since he was a 48.9-percent shooter coming in.

The Little Hawks - who also got 12 points off the bench from Lonnie Chester - were one of 4A's worst foul-shooting teams but made 15 of 19 to keep Prairie (9-13) at bay. The Hawks, meanwhile, missed some crucial ones down the stretch.

"They went on that little spurt there in the fourth that affected us," said Prairie Coach James Moses, whose team won six more games than in his inaugural season. "Free throws turned out to be key. They made them tonight, where they weren't making them in the regular season."

Now it's Linn-Mar and mighty Marcus Paige for City High in a substate semifinal Friday. The Lions won a late regular-season encounter, 49-38.

"We've got to have some confidence going into it," said City High Coach Adam Loria. "Obviously they're playing better with (injured) Matt Lassen back now. But as long as our kids believe they can do it ... We'll give it our best shot. I think we can do some things to them defensively to slow them down. Paige is Paige. We're not going to stop him, nobody is. You've got to make sure you contain the other guys."

Moore is a 6-foot-6 senior swingman who has been City High's lone consistent offensive threat. His older brother, Malcolm, is a junior forward at Texas-El Paso who tore his ACL seven games into this season.

Jerel hopes to follow his brother's plan, minus the knee injury. That's two years at a junior college, then on to Division I ball.

Hopefully his son will be old enough then not to fall asleep during his games.

"A lot of people have said they've seen me mature more over the last year or so," Jerrel Moore said. "It's just life, you know?"

Jacob Aune and Thomas Eilers led Prairie with 10 points each. Leading scorer Matt MacDougall was held to eight.

Here is the game boxscore:

AT IOWA CITY

C.R. PRAIRIE (42): Thomas Eilers 2-5 4-5 10, Matt MacDougall 4-10 0-0 8, Jace Hanna 4-7 1-2 9, Jacob Aune 5-11 0-0 10, Brooks Kehoe 1-2 0-0 2, DeMetrius Harper 1-2 1-2 3, Bryce Meeker 0-0 0-0 0, Kentrel Smith 0-1 0-0 0, Ty Mougin 0-0 0-0 0, JoJo Simpson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-38 6-9 42.

IOWA CITY HIGH (50): Cortez Barfield 1-4 0-0 2, Tony Perry 1-3 0-0 2, Jerel Moore 7-12 2-3 16, Alex Perry 1-2 0-0 3, Andrew Hein 0-3 0-0 0, Lonnie Chester 2-4 6-8 12, Jeremy Johnson 1-2 2-2 4, Ronald Thompson 3-4 5-6 11. Totals 16-34 15-19 50.

Halftime - Prairie 18, City High 18.

3-point goals - Prairie 2-9 (Eilers 2-5, Hanna 0-1, Aune 0-3), City High 1-7 (T. Perry 0-2, Moore 0-1, A. Perry 1-2, Hein 0-2).

Rebounds - Prairie 18 (MacDougall 5), City High 24 (Johnson 6).

Total fouls - Prairie 14, City High 13.

Fouled out - Kehoe.

Turnovers - Prairie 8, City High 8.