Boys basketball notebook: Union Community springboards off unexpected state run

CEDAR RAPIDS - If you follow its team account on ‘X,’ you’ll notice a theme with most of the posts.

With every game, the Union Community boys basketball team or one of its members seems to do something record breaking.

That tends to happen when you have a club that is full of experienced players, 14-1 and ranked seventh in the state in Class 2A. And might be the best team the school ever has seen.

“I mean, it's definitely, you know, setting itself up to be, right?” said head coach Eric Jesse. “You know, definitely, I would say the teams that I was on as a player (were up there), but those would be the only ones.”

Jesse played with his twin brother, Mark, on Union Community’s state tournament team in 2008 and a team the following season that went 22-2, losing in a substate final in overtime. He is coaching a team that brought back almost everyone from a 2024-25 team that got on a heater in the postseason last winter, upset a bunch of teams and made it to state.

“Obviously tasting some late success last year, I think, really got everybody excited for the offseason and what could potentially be this coming season,” Jesse said. “So we definitely put in the time. From the summer and the offseason we had, we were hoping we'd have some pretty good success, just from the amount of time and effort, the dedication from the guys and the assistant coaches and everybody else.”

Union lost its second game this season, to Wapsie Valley, but has avenged that loss and is on a school-record 13-game win streak. The Knights have a tough non-conference game Friday night against Class 3A Waverly-Shell Rock.

This team is incredibly balanced offensively, with its top seven guys averaging between 6.5 and 13.7 points per game. The 6.5 belongs to senior Ethan Winnike, the 13.7 to senior Caden Sorensen.

He is the school’s career assists leader and its second-leading scorer, behind Mark Jesse. He, Cameron Mullen, Tate Van Dyke, Sawyer Spence and Maddux DeWinter, all seniors, as well as sophomore Bryson DeWinter played a lot last season.

The lone significant graduation loss was to inside player Eric Leipert, which necessitated a bit of a playing-style change, especially defensively.

“He really kind of carried us to state last year in that postseason. He was an absolute stud for us those four games,” Jesse said of Leipert. “So it was definitely a little bit of adjustment. Not that we were playing slow last year, but I feel like our tempo has even picked up on offense.

“Then on defense we've really kind of gotten up and pressured teams more. Our defense has actually improved quite a bit from where it was last year. Sometimes when you don't have a shot blocker in the back end protecting the rim, it forces those guys to think ‘I can't let this guy go by me, as maybe I did last year because I knew the big fellow was back there ready to swat it.”

The back end of Union’s regular-season schedule is tough, with upcoming games against the likes of Aplington-Parkersburg and Grundy Center. Then its the postseason, when this team hopes to get as hot as it was last season.

“We just want to set ourselves up for as deep a run as possible,” Jesse said.

Around the hoop

– Postseason pairings for Class 1A and 2A are scheduled to be released the week of Feb. 9. Pairings for 3A and 4A will be released the following week.

In a change this season, 1A and 2A substate finals will be at the home court of the higher-seeded team. That’s provided that team meets the Iowa High School Athletic Association’s requirement for gym size.

– Trey Cota set a Lansing Kee school record with nine 3-pointers made in his team’s 74-48 win over West Central last week. Cota was 9 of 16 from beyond the arc and scored 35 points.

– Center Point-Urbana had a statement win Tuesday night when it rolled past Solon, 72-46, in a matchup of top-10 teams in 3A. CPU was 10th, Solon sixth.

The Stormin’ Pointers (12-3) ran to a 39-19 halftime lead in giving the Spartans (14-1) their first loss. They shot 61.7 percent from the field, making 8 of 13 3-pointers.

Cooper Grimm led the way with 19 points. Noah Estling added 18.

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