Boys basketball notebook: Stephen Bender keeps the wins coming at Hillcrest Academy

CEDAR RAPIDS - As they always say, you don’t want to be the guy who replaces a legend. You want to be the guy who replaces the guy who replaced a legend.

Or not.

Stephen Bender is doing just fine in his first season as head boys basketball coach at Hillcrest Academy. The Ravens are 13-1 going into their scheduled game Friday night against WACO.

“We got into the season, and we had a Hall of Pride (scrimmage) game at Sigourney, and, man, we did not look good,” Bender said. “Then we had a jamboree game against Mediapolis, and same thing, we did not look good. But I will say what those two things did for us, it really showed me some things about the team that I needed to change to help us be successful. And so we learned from that, and the kids really have bought in.”

Bender was hired over the summer when Dwight Gingerich announced he was leaving Hillcrest Academy, formerly Iowa Mennonite School, after a 43-year stint to become head men’s basketball coach and athletics director at Goshen College in Indiana. Gingerich is fourth all time in the state of Iowa in victories with 759.

Bender played for Gingerich at IMS and had been an assistant coach at Hillcrest Academy, where his sons Grant and Mason played and graduated. He’d had head coaching experience for the West Branch boys (eight years) and Mid-Prairie girls (six), so this was a perfect fit.

Another son, Rhys, is a sophomore on this Hillcrest team. A fourth son, Bodie, is 11 years old and has Down syndrome, which made Bender pause a bit before taking the job.

“My wife (Samantha) has been great,” Bender said. “I really didn't think I was going to be a head coach again, not that after I stepped out I was ready to be done. But at the same point, it was like, our youngest son has special needs, you know? I just thought ‘I'll help Dwight. I’ve got one more kid who's a sophomore this year.’

“I just thought Dwight would be there forever. And, well, that changed, and it was like ‘OK, I'm not gonna pass on this. I love doing it.’”

Junior forward Kale Bailey and senior guard Rowan Miller were Hillcrest’s top returners from last season and they lead it in scoring at 18.0 and 14.1 points per game, respectively. Sophomore guard Gibson Scott has emerged as a major contributor, averaging 13.5 points and a team-leading 7.4 rebounds per game, despite being just 5-foot-11.

Seniors Lincoln Miller and Isaac Birky are the other starters. Bender generally employs a seven-player rotation.

Hillcrest’s lone loss was at Keota, 59-44, a couple of weeks ago and it is unbeaten in the Southeast Iowa Super Conference’s North Division. Bender picked up his 200th-career victory last week when the Ravens won at Winfield-Mount Union.

“I don't know when the last time that we’ve gone (16-0) in conference play, but that’s hard to do, no matter what conference,” Bender said. “I think it's a realistic goal. And then, you know, if we happen to win that, we're most likely going to play a very good Burlington Notre Dame team in our conference shootout. Last year in the shootout, we did not do very well, and that other side of the conference is very good.

“But the coach in me believes, though, that we’ve got a shot every time, and if we keep getting better, I think we can definitely compete with them. So that's a goal. And we, you know, we've been talking about it like we want to make a run. We want to make a run into the postseason, and our goal is to make it to the state tournament.”

Around the hoop

– The Gazette area is down to just one undefeated team. That would be Solon, which is 13-0.

There are nine unbeaten teams remaining in the state. Joining Solon in Class 3A are Huxley Ballard and Clear Lake.

Then it’s Tri-Center and Grundy Center in 2A, Cedar Falls in 4A and Burlington Notre Dame, Lynnville-Sully and Marcus MMCRU in 1A.

– Decorah traveled 330 miles this week to get a victory. The Vikings beat Council Bluffs Lewis Central, 53-51, Monday as part of the MLK Classic at Council Bluffs Lincoln High School.

Cael LaFrentz had 24 points, 13 rebounds and eight blocked shots for the Vikings (7-3). This was the second consecutive season Decorah has participated in the Classic.

By the way, it’s a little over five hours drive time from Decorah to Council Bluffs.

Comments: (319)-398-8258, jeff.johnson@thegazette.com