Cedar Falls steals Cedar Rapids Kennedy’s gig in battle of MVC boys’ basketball division champs

CEDAR RAPIDS — They out-3ed the team that usually out-3s everyone.

The Cedar Falls Tigers won Thursday night’s highly-anticipated matchup of the third- and fourth-ranked boys’ basketball teams in Class 4A, beating Cedar Rapids Kennedy, 75-66. Kennedy was No. 3, Cedar Falls No. 4.

Those rankings will change next week because Cedar Falls (18-2) got some kind of hot shooting from distance. The Tigers were 12 of 19 from 3-point range in this one, including junior forward Dallas Bear’s bearish evening that included a game-high 33 points, including 6 of 10 shooting from beyond the arc.

And to think it was Kennedy (18-3) which came into this game leading all of 4A in 3-pointers taken and made.

“We knew coming into the game that they were shooting more 3s than us,” said Bear. “But I think we did a really good job this week prepping for them and understanding what they were going to do offensively.”

Bear hit a wing 3 well past the arc at the end of the third quarter to put Cedar Falls ahead 51-48. He then came right back at the start of the fourth and nailed a similar huge 3.

At 6-foot-8, he has the length to shoot over defenders, though Kennedy Coach Jon McKowen said he felt his team did a decent job defending him. Bear’s shots just went in.

“Good teams make big shots in big games,” McKowen said. “Credit to them. Bear got a couple of good looks early and got into a rhythm. Man, he hit some tough ones. The end of the third, we were right there, and he had to fade away to shoot it. Then at the start of the fourth, he came out and hit one that was the same thing. He caught it in rhythm, but he faded away to take the shot. We can live with those.”

This was just a great game to watch all the way around. Kennedy had its 15-game win streak snapped, while Cedar Falls saw its increase to 14.

The postseason for each begins next week. A rematch at the state tournament in Des Moines would be fun to see, though these teams (winners of each division in the Mississippi Valley Conference) have to make it to state first.

Cedar Falls led after a quarter, 17-16, with Kennedy taking a 38-37 edge at halftime. The Cougars had as much as a six-point lead in the third quarter, with CF rallying late in the quarter.

A trey from unheralded guard Carter Juhl extended the Tigers’ lead to 57-48 with 6:15 to go, and that separation was more than enough. Hard to believe Cedar Falls lost its second game of the season at home to Cedar Rapids Jefferson, considering how well the Tigers are playing right now

“I think the Jefferson loss kind of fueled us at the start of the season,” said Bear. “We knew we could be better than that. The defense wasn’t quite there, yet. We’re still working to improve as always. But we’re starting to get there.”

Cedar Falls had all-state guard Trey Campbell, a Northern Iowa signee, returning this season, but he was the only starter back. Campbell had 15 points here, dodging some foul trouble in the game.

“We had to just find ourselves,” Coach Ryan Schultz said. “We didn’t really know who we were. We were trying some different lineups, trying some different guys in different spots. I think that was part of it. I also think when you are as inexperienced as we were, we had a lot of guys playing this year who hadn’t been in games, since we lost four starters from last year, I think it’s just been a slow build. Kind of finding out how to play.”

Guards Colby Dolphin and Kenzie Reed led Kennedy with 19 points apiece. The Cougars went 7 for 24 from 3-point land.

“I felt really good about the way we played. It was just that the results weren’t great,” McKowen said. “This will kind of regroup us, refocus us on how important little things are on the defensive side. Because defense has to keep you in the game when the shots aren’t going. We didn’t have one of those spurts this game. Every game this year, there was a time where we just scored that fast. We didn’t have one of those tonight. We kind of had to grind all night.”

AT CEDAR RAPIDS KENNEDY

CEDAR FALLS (75): Derek Woods 3-4 0-0 7, Cade Courbat 1-4 1-4 3, Dallas Bear 9-17 9-10 33, Aaron Brost 0-2 3-4 3, Trey Campbell 7-12 0-0 15, Owen Denholm 0-0 0-0 0, Jake Peters 1-1 0-0 2, Anthony Galvin 1-2 0-0 3, Carter Juhl 3-3 0-0 9. Totals 25-45 13-18 75.

C.R. KENNEDY (66): Isaiah Morgan 0-0 0-0 0, Brenden Linde 0-0 0-0 0, Gannon Hall 0-0 0-0 0, Dkhai Pope 1-1 0-0 3, Deven Williams 0-1 0-0 0, Craig Mills 3-3 2-2 8, Jackson Bowman 2-5 2-4 6, Colby Dolphin 6-9 5-6 19, Carson Blietz 3-10 0-0 9, Kenzie Reed 5-10 8-9 19, Cyrus Courtney 1-8 0-0 2, Carter Newhouse 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 21-49 17-21 66.

Halftime - Kennedy 38, Cedar Falls 37. 3-point goals - Cedar Falls 12-19 (Woods 1-1, Courbat 0-1, Bear 6-10, Campbell 1-2, Galvin 1-2, Juhl 3-3), Kennedy 7-24 (Pope 1-1, Williams 0-1, Bowman 0-1, Dolphin 2-4, Blietz 3-8, Reed 1-4, Courtney 0-4, Newhouse 0-1). Rebounds - Cedar Falls 28 (Courbat 11), Kennedy 24 (Mills, Bowman, Courtney 5). Total fouls - Cedar Falls 14, Kennedy 15. Fouled out - Woods. Turnovers - Cedar Falls 11, Kennedy 10.

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