Cedar Rapids Kennedy escapes in substate final against North Scott ... barely

CEDAR RAPIDS — Take a deep breath, gentlemen. You’re still playing basketball.

That’s the thing.

“It was ugly, man,” Cedar Rapids Kennedy’s Trey McKowen said, after his top-ranked Cougars escaped North Scott, 57-55, Tuesday night in a thriller of a Class 4A substate final at Alliant Energy PowerHouse. “But we got it done. That’s all that matters at the end of the day.”

You got that right, Trey.

Kennedy (23-0) was this close to suffering another sudden and totally unexpected ending to a previously flawless season. But Joe Bean made a pair of tiebreaking free throws with 4.6 seconds left, and North Scott’s Jamarion Readus missed a well-defended 3-point attempt from the wing at the buzzer.

The Cougars are again the top seed in the 4A portion of next week’s state tournament in Des Moines, drawing eighth-seeded Dallas Center-Grimes (20-3) in a 10:30 a.m. quarterfinal Wednesday, March 6, at Wells Fargo Arena. Kennedy was an unbeaten top seed going into last year’s state tournament and lost that 1-8 quarterfinal to Pleasant Valley.

“This game felt like the same thing,” said Kennedy’s Cyrus Courtney. “They weren’t missing, and we couldn’t get hot. Felt the same way as last year. Different result this year, though, because of the defense. And we played hard. We had the grit.”

Courtney tried to turn the corner down the right side of the lane on Kennedy’s final offensive possession but was cut off, double teamed and looked to be in some trouble. But he turned, saw Bean cutting underneath the basket and fed him nicely, forcing a foul.

“Before the play even, (teammate) Micah (Schlaak) went to me and said that’s not really going to be the play,” Bean said. “I mean, it could be, but the backside rebound will probably be there, so I just tried to go to the backside. Somehow I was open.”

Kennedy scored the first 12 points of this game, and it appeared another rout was on the horizon. The Cougars have beaten their opponents by an average of 35-plus points per game.

But North Scott (16-7) settled down and scored the final 11 points of the first quarter to pull within one. Kennedy spurted back ahead by halftime, 32-23, but North Scott hit eight 3-pointers in the second half to get back into the game and almost steal it at the end.

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Freshman Josiah Harrington was an assassin, hitting five treys and scoring 23 points. His trey with 1:27 left suddenly gave North Scott a 55-53 lead.

McKowen countered with a jump shot 14 seconds later to tie it back up. North Scott then missed a couple of shots on the ensuing possession, giving Kennedy pretty much the last shot.

“Credit to North Scott,” Trey McKowen said. “They persevered very well. They didn’t get rattled by our run, like most teams. I’d just say hats off to them. They played a great game.”

Bean led Kennedy in scoring with 21 points. Schlaak had 19 points, 15 coming in the first half.

McKowen added 10.

“In those (late) moments, I was happy our kids stayed calm,” Coach McKowen said. “Things they’ve talked about all year, they followed through with. You don’t really know your team’s character until you’re faced with adversity. That was the first real adversity (for us), where you’re looking at the scoreboard and you’re not winning in the second half. I didn’t think they acted any different. They were calm in the huddle, there was really good communication.”

“Of course, you are going to have anxiety,” Courtney said. “But that shows the character of a team. If you play hard and play how you practice, the results will show ... This shows we can win close games.”

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Photos: Kennedy vs. North Scott in Class 4A boys’ basketball substate final

Cedar Rapids Kennedy 57, North Scott 55

AT ALLIANT ENERGY POWERHOUSE

NORTH SCOTT (55): Kavon Phillips 0-1 0-0 0, Brennan Reid 3-5 2-2 9, Josiah Harrington 9-14 0-0 23, Kyler Gerardy 4-8 2-2 12, Jamarion Readus 2-12 2-2 7, Anthony Gott 2-2 0-0 4, Miller Haedt 0-0 0-0 0, Cash Bowe 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-42 5-5 55.

CEDAR RAPIDS KENNEDY (57): Cyrus Courtney 1-7 1-4 4, Micah Schlaak 8-13 1-1 19, Trevan Krumrei 1-3 0-0 3, Joe Bean 7-10 4-6 21. Trey McKowen 5-13 0-0 10, Griffin Gerdes 1-1 0-0 3, Pierce McCrary 0-1 0-0 0, Landon Deiters 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-48 6-11 57.

Halftime - Kennedy 32, North Scott 23. 3-point goals - North Scott 10-22 (Reid 1-2, Harrington 5-9, Gerardy 3-6, Readus 1-5), Kennedy 8-18 (Courtney 1-2, Schlaak 2-3, Krumrei 1-3, Bean 3-4, McKowen 0-4, Gerdes 1-1, McCrary 0-1). Rebounds - North Scott 29 (Reid 12), Kennedy 17 (Courtney, Schlaak, Bean, Gerdes 3). Total fouls - North Scott 13, Kennedy 8. Fouled out - None. Turnovers - North Scott 13, Kennedy 3.

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