Aidan Yamilkoski’s buzzer beater keeps Cedar Rapids Xavier unbeaten

IOWA CITY - Some coaches would have called timeout and set up an offensive play.

But not Mike Freeman. Not Cedar Rapids Xavier.

When Aidan Yamilkoski snatched a rebound of a missed shot by opposing player Jack McCaffery of Iowa City West with a smidgen over 9 seconds left, he brought the ball down the court calmly. The senior wing then eventually maneuvered from the left side of the court to the center.

The free-throw line, to be exact. A pause, a jumper just before the buzzer, a swish ... and a Saints win, 64-62.

“Coach sent Derm (teammate Aidan McDermott) in to stop McCaffery, and he did a great job of that,” Yamilkoski said. “I saw the rebound, went and got it. I’ve got a team around me that believes and trusts that if I have the ball, I can put it in the hole.”

In the hole it went, setting off a celebration for Xavier, which is 9-0 and ranked No. 1 in 3A. This was a case when the new 35-second shot clock played a factor down the stretch.

West (6-2) got possession with about 44 seconds to go in a tied game, but didn’t get any good looks and had to settle for McCaffery’s heavily guarded 18-foot turnaround jumper at the end of the shot clock.

“We told McDermott that ‘Hey, you’re not leaving McCaffery, you’re guarding him. You’re staying, don’t help, don’t switch,’” Freeman said. “Then in the timeout we told them ‘Hey, if we rebound it, we’re going, we’re not going with a timeout. That’s just basketball players making basketball plays. I mean, coaches can tell them, but they’ve got to step up and do it.”

Playing without top starter and second-leading scorer Kareem Earl because of a back injury, West shot it well and played well, taking a three-point lead after a quarter and a four-point lead at halftime.

The Trojans grew their advantage to 43-32 in the third quarter, but Xavier collected itself and whittled its deficit gradually, tying things late, only to see McCaffery hit a 3 at the buzzer for a 54-51 lead going to the fourth.

An Yamilkoski and-one three-point play gave Xavier a 56-54 lead with 3:51 left in the fourth, its first lead since the first quarter. Back and forth the teams went from there.

“We beat a high-ranked 4A team, and we’re a small 3A school that is just battling and is disciplined and plays as a team. I love it. I love my teammates,” said Yamilkoski, who finished with 17 points and eight rebounds. “We’ve just just to keep grinding. Keep doing what we’re doing. Don’t change anything.”

Joe Bean led Xavier with 22 points, with center Tyler Netolicky adding 15. Freshman Julian Manson had 17 points to lead West, McCaffery had 14 and Tae’Veon Stevens 13.

Fun game with two teams that shot it well (both over 50 percent from the field) and played hard. A good atmosphere in the West gym, too.

“We just had to get stops,” Freeman said. “It wasn’t our offense. We give up 50 points a game. We weren’t getting stops. We finally picked up the tempo a little bit by getting into our press a little bit. This group, they no have panic in them. They just keep going at it.”

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AT IOWA CITY WEST

CEDAR RAPIDS XAVIER (64): Joe Bean 10-15 2-2 22, Aidan Yamilkoski 7-16 1-1 17, Tyler Netolicky 7-12 1-2 15, Josef Lemker 1-4 0-0 3, Thomas Sundell 3-5 0-0 7, Aidan McDermott 0-1 0-0 0, Dominic D’Amico 0-0 0-0 0, Preston Lang 0-0 0-0 0, Michael Cunningham 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-54 4-5 64.

IOWA CITY WEST (62): Jack McCaffery 5-14 0-0 14, Julian Manson 5-5 7-10 17, Jacob Koch 3-6 0-0 9, Brady Simcox 3-5 0-0 7, Tae’Veon Stevens 5-6 1-2 13, Ben Hoefer 0-1 0-0 0, Aidan Jacobsen 1-2 0-1 2, Soumaila Sanogo 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-40 8-13 62.

Halftime - Iowa City West 33, C.R. Xavier 29. 3-point goals - C.R. Xavier 4-13 (Bean 0-2, Yamilkoski 2-7, Lemker 1-1, Sundell 1-2, Lang 0-1), Iowa City West 9-17 (McCaffery 4-6, Koch 3-5, Simcox 1-2, Stevens 2-3, Hoefer 0-1). Rebounds - Xavier 25 (Yamilkoski 8), Iowa City West 20 (McCaffery 6). Total fouls - C.R. Xavier 12, Iowa City West 8. Fouled out - None.Turnovers - C.R. Xavier 7, Iowa City West 10.

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