Cedar Rapids Kennedy falls to Muscatine in 4A substate semifinal boys hoops game

MUSCATINE - Celebrate what you accomplished

The Cedar Rapids Kennedy boys basketball team was young, way young this season. It was small physically, very small.

But the Cougars fought through those things and some others and found themselves in a Class 4A substate semifinal Friday night at Muscatine. They took a hard first punch, but recovered and took an early third-quarter lead.

Of course, Muscatine went on a 3-inspired spree to go ahead by as many 16 points, and that was that. The Muskies (18-4) went on to a 65-58 win that takes them to a 4A substate final Tuesday night at sixth-ranked Dubuque Senior.

For Kennedy (15-8), it’s not a state tournament berth like the previous two seasons, but it’s not a bad go around considering everything. And considering this team played three freshmen heavily and has two other players who played a bunch of minutes that will return, the future for the green and gold is especially golden.

“You know, I'd like to look towards our senior leadership for this season,” said Kennedy’s Jaxson Bean, who had a team-high 17 points Friday night. “Like these guys came in, day in, day out, and it was a tough thing for them. Like we were talking a couple weeks ago, and Coach said, some of these guys didn't know any of these freshmen, and yet we came together as a group and played hard and gave it our all.

“It's nice to see like you got a couple guys, obviously got three freshmen who are playing. Three freshmen got pulled up. Yeah, it just feels good knowing that these guys have some games under their belt now and they're ready to work.”

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Bean is one of the older guys around, a junior who played last season as a sophomore. Justin Powell and Deacon Kucera were senior starters and good leaders.

Lawson Neighbor, who had 12 points here, is a junior, as is forward Jake Solberg. Then there are the three 9th-graders who played a lot: guards Drew McKowen, Brooks Greenlee and Kaden Gomez.

“It was just their battle. Like this team battled so much,” said Kennedy Coach Jon McKowen. “We were 4-6, things didn't look good, but their attitudes and practices were fantastic every day. So we just kept getting better. And we got on to run at the end of the year, and I told the kids that's just a character thing. It's easy to quit when things are going bad. It's easy to quit when something's not going your way.

“That this group just stuck together, kept getting better, came to work every day with great attitudes, it showed at the end of the year. We were a pretty good basketball team by the end.”

Guard Talan Becker had 19 points for Muscatine, most of those from the outside. He made four 3-pointers.

Forward Spencer Biah was the dude inside for the Muskies with a game-high 20 points and six rebounds. Muscatine shot over 50 percent from the field, though did turn the basketball over 13 times, sometimes crumbling under Kennedy’s last-gasp full-court defensive pressure.

“I mean, you know, it's tough to say,” Beans said of Muscatine’s tell-tale third-quarter run. “They made good shots, and we just couldn't get things to fall. I mean, it was just a tough situation for us, and we tried to battle back. Just fell short at the end of the day.”

Coach McKowen mentioned how difficult the shooting background was in the gym. There were shadows on the floor following the players, and it seemed darker than most gyms you watch games.

Perhaps just a home-court advantage for Musky.

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“They made shots, and we didn't make shots tonight. You know, it's kind of simple as that. We had really good shooters getting good shots. And you know what I loved about, you know, our kids is they kept telling each other there's the best shot of the night. We're going to get it again for you. You know, they were just fantastic to each other. And a little bit of tough shooting environment.

“I think we struggled a little bit in pregame, too, just trying to get used to it, and just didn't shoot it well. And that's something we had to do all year, is make shots from the 3-point line.”

McKowen was asked if this was just the start of what could be a very nice Kennedy basketball run in the next couple of years.

“We’ve got not just the kids here, but our sophomores were undefeated,” he said. “Our freshmen teams had a really good year, and we took six of them. So you know, those next groups doing good things is fantastic. So, yeah, we have really good pieces. They're just a little bit young right now. So we'll grow this summer and get better and get stronger, get a little quicker and be ready.”

AT MUSCATINE

CEDAR RAPIDS KENNEDY (58): Deacon Kucera 3-4 0-0 6, Justin Powell 3-8 0-0 8, Kaden Gomez 1-6 0-0 3, Drew McKowen 3-8 2-2 9, Jaxson Bean 6-13 3-6 17, Lawson Neighbor 5-11 1-2 12, Jake Solberg 0-0 0-0 0, Brooks Greenlee 1-5 0-0 3. Totals 22-55 6-10 58.

MUSCATINE (65): Spencer Biah 8-11 4-5 20, Nate Lukkarinen 1-3 0-2 3, Adrian Gonpue 3-6 0-1 6, Talan Becker 7-12 1-2 19, Gaige Curtis 0-4 0-0 0, Sam Church 2-5 2-2 6, Ryland Gbor 3-5 0-0 6, Thomas Norton 1-2 0-0 2, Canton Welsch 1-2 0-0 3. Totals 26-50 7-12 58.

Halftime - Muscatine 27, Cedar Rapids Kennedy 25. 3-point goals - Kennedy 8-27 (Powell 2-5, Gomez 1-5, McKowen 1-5, Bean 2-7, Neighbor 1-3, Greenlee 1-2), Muscatine 6-16 (Lukkarinen 1-2, Becker 4-8, Curtis 0-3, Church 0-1, Welsch 1-2). Rebounds - Kennedy 25 (Neighbor 6), Muscatine 36 (Biah, Gonpue, Church 6). Total fouls - Kennedy 13, Muscatgine 13. Fouled out - None. Turnovers - Kennedy 6, Muscatine 13.

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