Xavier whips Prairie, 79-59

CEDAR RAPIDS -- The Xavier Saints hit the boards and hit their free throws.

Cedar Rapids Xavier annihilated Cedar Rapids Prairie on the glass in the first half and led wire to wire in a 79-59 Mississippi Valley Conference boys' basketball win Friday night at Prairie High School.

The Saints (4-7 overall, 3-3 MVC) outrebounded Prairie by a 21-8 margin on their way to a 30-16 halftime lead. Then they sidestepped a third-quarter scoring binge by Prairie's Jacob Aune to coast home.

Aune scored 19 of his game-high 24 points in the third quarter. But the Hawks (5-6, 2-5) only cut into the deficit by two points in that period, and that's as close as they got.

Matt Nelson led the Saints with 17 points and nine rebounds. Ben McDermott added 15 points and eight boards.

Xavier made 22 of 25 free throws.

C.R. XAVIER 79, C.R. PRAIRIE 59

At C.R. Prairie

C.R. XAVIER (79): Trey Sampson 0-1 5-6 5, Ben McDermott 6-8 0-0 15, Kevin Hosch 5-5 3-3 13, Carter Valentine 2-7 4-5 8, Mack Mattke 1-4 2-2 4, Tanner Frazier 0-0 0-0 0, Alec Clasen 3-5 3-4 9, Matt Nelson 7-10 3-3 17, Brian Ropp 2-6 2-2 8, Patrick Mullin 0-0 0-0 0, Reggie Schulte 0-0 0-0 0, Benjamin Breitbach 0-0 0-0 0, Robbie Thinnes 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-46 22-25 79.

C.R. PRAIRIE (59): Jacob Aune 10-17 1-2 24, Brooks Kehoe 0-3 1-3 1, Jace Hanna 4-11 5-7 13, Matthew MacDougall 3-9 1-2 7, Thomas Eilers 2-7 2-3 7, DeMetrius Harper 0-0 2-4 2, Kentrel Smith 0-3 0-0 0, Bryce Meeker 0-0 1-2 1, Garrett Rasmussen 1-2 0-0 2, Tyler Mougin 0-1 0-0 0, JoJo Simpson 1-1 0-0 2, Cody Tonyan 0-0 0-0 0, Mitchell Adams 0-0 0-0 0, Michael Mims 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-54 13-23 59.

Halftime: Xavier 30, Prairie 16.

3-point goals: Xavier 5-8 (Sampson 0-1, McDermott 3-4, Mattke 0-1, Ropp 2-2), Prairie 4-13 (Aune 3-5, Kehoe 0-1, Hanna 0-1, Eilers 1-3, Smith 0-2, Mougin 0-1, Mims 0-1).

Team fouls: Xavier 18, Prairie 23.

Fouled out: Eilers.

Rebounds: Xavier 38 (Nelson 9), Prairie 22 (Hanna 5).

Assists: Xavier 8 (McDermott 3), Prairie 11 (Harper 3).

Steals: Xavier 7 (Valentine 3), Prairie 10 (MacDougall 4).

Turnovers: Xavier 17, Prairie 10.