C.R. Prairie gets past ill and short-handed C.R. Xavier, 57-42

CEDAR RAPIDS - It was just a matter of time. It was just that matter of time took a long time to come.

Class 4A No. 10 Cedar Rapids Prairie pulled away in the fourth quarter to finally quell Cedar Rapids Xavier, 57-42, Tuesday night at Prairie.

This was a very short-handed Xavier club without starters Zander Murray, A.J. Evans and Lorenzo Pino, as well as a couple of bench players. There has been a lot of sickness out there this winter for players and certain teams, and Xavier is catching the full brunt of that sickness right now.

Oh, well, it’s better than next week, when Class 3A postseason play begins for the Saints (12-8), who have been placed in a substate with second-ranked Decorah. First-round substate games in 3A and 4A are Monday night.

Second-seeded Xavier hosts seventh-seeded Maquoketa.

“Right now, we’re just trying to get healthy,” said Xavier Coach Mike Freeman. “The kids battled their absolute tails off tonight. It was like ‘OK, basketball gods, give us a couple of 3s there we shot in the fourth quarter.’”

Xavier led after a quarter, 16-5, though Prairie Coach Todd Kuntz did a cool thing by starting five seniors on Senior Night, including four guys who aren’t normally starters. That quartet players half the first quarter.

The teams were tied at 23 at halftime, with Prairie holding a hair-length lead after three quarters, 39-38. Xavier did an awesome job of running the shot clock down on each offensive possession and getting back quickly on defense to prevent Prairie transition.

The game was knotted again at 40 early in the fourth, but Austin Joens and Tae Alexander hit back-to-back 3s for a 46-40 lead that finally spelled the end for Xavier. Prairie ended the game on a 17-2 run.

“That was different,” Kuntz said. “Some of our kids were texting me my 10 o’clock this morning saying ‘These Xavier kids are out. These Xavier kids are out.’ It’s one of those things where you never know. So just the unknown and how you prepare for that in the back of your mind ... I was proud of our guys for getting some energy there in the fourth quarter. At this point of the year, you take a win any way you can get it.”

“Some of our teammates were buddies with them, and they were messaging us that they were sick,” said Prairie center Devin Ikeda, who had 12 points and 9 rebounds. “But I didn’t really want to believe them, because it seems like a lot of people who do that kind of stuff to get into your head. But it worked out.”

Jace McDermott celebrated Senior Night with a 15-point performance for Prairie (17-4), making 5 of 11 shots, all from beyond the arc. Kaleb Wilgenbusch led Xavier with 16 points, guard Jack Downey chipping in with 13.

Prairie is a No. 2 seed in its 4A substate. The top seed is Dubuque Senior, and those two teams just happen to play Thursday night.

Weird deal to play a team once with a Mississippi Valley Conference Valley Division championship on the line and then a week or so later perhaps play them again for a state tournament trip.

“Here’s the deal,” Kuntz said. “We’re playing for a conference championship Thursday night, and we’ve had one as a school in the last 25 years here. For us, that is certainly going to give us our best effort.

“We’re going to go there and give it everything we have and try to find a way to win that conference championship. That’d be pretty special for these guys and be pretty special for us. We’re going to go out there and give it everything we have at Senior.”

---------

AT CEDAR RAPIDS PRAIRIE

CEDAR RAPIDS XAVIER (42): Aiden Miller 2-8 0-0 5, Carter Hoffmann 3-9 0-0 6, Caleb Loffswold 0-3 0-0 0, Kaleb Wilgenbusch 5-16 4-4 16, Jack Downey 6-14 0-0 13, Lee Gamez 1-4 0-0 2, Brady O’Donnell 0-0 0-0 0, Sam Leuck 0-0 0-0 0, Sam Driscoll 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-54 4-4 42.

CEDAR RAPIDS PRAIRIE (57): Jace McDermott 4-11 0-0 15, Shraden Lechtenberg 0-0 3-4 3, Devin Ikeda 6-6 0-0 12, Wyatt Eash 0-1 0-0 0, Hudson Kimm 1-1 1-2 3, David Fason 2-4 2-3 6, Cayden Larson 0-1 0-0 0, Tae Alexander 2-4 0-0 6, Austin Joens 4-6 0-0 9, Will Wehr 1-5 2-2 4, Collin McClintock 0-0 0-0 0, Kamal Ajram 0-0 0-0 0, Avery Hill 0-0 0-0 0, Jack Marquardt 0-0 0-0 0, Matthew Schroeder 0-0 0-0 0, Jayson Kubik 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-39 8-11 57.

Halftime - Xavier 23, Prairie 23. 3-point goals - Xavier Miller 1-6, Loffswold 0-2, Hoffmann 0-1, Wilgenbusch 1-5, Downey 1-3, Gamez 0-3), Prairie 8-22 (McDermott 5-10, Eash 0-1, Fason 0-1, Larson 0-1, Alexander 2-4, Joens 1-3, Wehr 0-2). Rebounds - Xavier 22 (Hoffmann 6), Prairie 32 (Fason 10, Ikeda 9). Total fouls - Xavier 17, Prairie 9. Fouled out - None. Flop warning - Xavier. Turnovers - Xavier 3, Prairie 13.

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