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Another signature win for C.R. Prairie boys’ basketball team
Hawks upend Class 4A No. 1 Cedar Falls in double-overtime, 71-70
Jan. 28, 2025 11:10 pm, Updated: Jan. 29, 2025 9:19 am
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CEDAR RAPIDS - That win earlier this boys’ basketball season against Cedar Rapids Kennedy kind of announced to the rest of Class 4A that “We’re coming.”
This one announced to everyone that “We’re here.”
That’d be Cedar Rapids Prairie, which somehow found a way to make exactly one more play in a game full of them to knock off 4A top-ranked Cedar Falls, 71-70, in a double-overtime beauty on the far southwest side.
“Oh, yeah, we’re here now,” said Prairie center Devin Okeda “We’re ready. We want anybody.”
That aforementioned one more and final play was made by sophomore guard Tae Alexander, whose left-handed drive to the hoop and slick right-handed finish provided the winning points with 5.5 seconds to go.
“I’m just more in shock right now,” said a surprisingly calm Alexander, struggling to find words to describe his feelings postgame. “I don’t know why I’m not excited right now.
“I was on the right wing and wanted to call for a ‘Fist’ (play) for a screen, but they just said to go downhill, so that’s what I did.”
Prairie (11-3) had to anxiously wait out those final 5.5 seconds before celebrating. Cedar Falls (12-2) ran a great play in which guard Keegan Steege took the inbounds pass from a teammate underneath their team’s basket, speed dribbled up court through defenders, got to about the free-throw circle to the right of the hoop and threw a perfect cross-court pass to wide-open Jaydon Kimbrough on the left wing.
But CF’s leading scorer on this night (he had 26 points) missed the shot, and that was that.
Just how close were the Tigers from winning this game? Kimbrough had a really good look, forward Will Gerdes had a shot on the low block at the end of the first overtime that didn’t fall. And Steege was fouled driving baseline to the hoop at the buzzer and went to the free-throw line for a chance to tie and win the game at the end of regulation.
He made his first shot, but missed his second, after a Prairie timeout, sending the teams to OT at 61-all
“I was just praying, man,” Alexander said. “The first one he shot, I didn’t even watch. I waited for the crowd reaction.”
“You could tell he was nervous,” said Ikeda. “We iced him, called a great timeout. He missed, and we just knew it was our time.”
Cedar Falls held a four-point lead in the second OT, but Will Wehr hit a clutch 3-pointer for Prairie to make it a 70-69 CF lead. The Tigers missed a shot with about 14 seconds to go, with Prairie rebounding and the ball eventually finding itself in Alexander’s hands.
Wehr, by the way, had 21 points off the bench for Prairie. Ikeda played wonderfully with 15 points and game-high 12 rebounds.
Gerdes supplemented Kimbrough offensively by ading 19 points for Cedar Falls, whose other loss was at No. 4 Linn-Mar. Anthony Galvin added 15 more points for CF.
“What is going through my mind is that our players made plays,” said Prairie Coach Todd Kuntz. “I think there is nothing that makes you more proud as a coach than when you can trust your kids. For us to be as young as we are, to not even call timeouts and set up plays, knowing I can trust them is a result of those kids’ work every day. We do fast-break drill after fast-break drill after fast-break drill.
“For our guys to have the confidence and not be scared to make plays is so rewarding. You’re so proud of them.”
Prairie followed up that 70-68 upset win over Kennedy in early January to getting blown out the following day by Ames. Iowa City West beat the Hawks by double figures again in the middle of the month.
It remains to be seen what happens after this huge victory. But Prairie shouldn’t worry about that at this exact moment.
Enjoy what you accomplished, boys.
“I’m happy for our program,” Kuntz said. “Gosh, what a game.”
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AT CEDAR RAPIDS PRAIRIE
CEDAR FALLS (70): William Gerdes 7-15 4-5 19, Leyton Wolf 2-7 0-0 4, Jaydon Kimbrough 10-19 3-3 26, Anthony Galvin 6-12 0-0 15, Keegan Steege 0-6 1-4 1, Liam O’Neill 0-1 0-0 0, Jordan Townsend 2-5 0-0 5, Mason Woltz 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-65 8-12 70.
CEDAR RAPIDS PRAIRIE (71): Jace McDermott 2-4 0-0 6, David Fason 2-7 1-1 5, Devin Ikeda 7-9 0-0 15, Tae Alexander 3-5 2-2 8, Austin Joens 5-10 0-0 12, Will Wehr 8-18 3-3 21, Cayden Larson 1-4 1-2 4, Hudson Kimm 0-0 0-0 0, Collin McClintock 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-57 7-8 71.
Halftime - Cedar Falls 32, C.R. Prairie 28. End of Regulation - 61-61. End of First Overtime - 66-66. 3-point goals - Cedar Falls 8-25 (Gerdes 1-1, Wolf 0-2, Kimbrough 3-9, Galvin 3-7, Steege 0-2, Townsend 1-4), C.R. Prairie 8-18 (McDermott 2-4, Ikeda 1-1, Alexander 0-1, Joens 2-6, Wehr 2-4, Larson 1-2). Rebounds - Cedar Falls 27 (Wolf 9), C.R. Prairie 39 (Ikeda 12). Total fouls - Cedar Falls 12, C.R. Prairie 10. Technical foul - Wolf (flopping). Fouled out - Fason. Turnovers - Cedar Falls 6, C.R. Prairie 16.
Comments: (319)-398-8258, jeff.johnson@thegazette.com
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