Cedar Rapids Washington’s boys’ basketball team is older, more cohesive ... and better

CEDAR RAPIDS - They are a year older, a year stronger and wiser. They say less petty and individualistic.

Way more team oriented.

How far that gets these still very young Cedar Rapids Washington Warriors this boys’ basketball season will be proven out by March. But as the worn-out cliche goes: so far, so good.

“Last year, we used to get down on each other,” said Wash guard Trae Fields, after his team won its home opener Saturday afternoon over Iowa City West, 68-54. “We used to get mad because one person had this amount of points and the other person didn’t. We’d say someone was a ball hog and stuff. But this year, we don’t care about points. We just want to win.”

Wash won both of its games this first week, blowing out Mount Pleasant to go along with this one. Fields had a game-high 22 points, making four 3-pointers but also showing off a drive-and-dish game.

Will Rahe adding 18 points and 14 rebounds as the Warriors led the entire game. Rahe is a junior, one of the “old guys” on this team.

Fields also starts with fellow sophomores Zaccai Walters, Brian Robertson and Chuck Crawley. They played varsity last season as freshmen.

“This year has just been very different from last year,” Rahe said. “We’re playing as a team, aren’t selfish at all. We’re swinging the rock, everybody is making plays. Even the energy on the bench and the student section, all the way around, things are different. We’re fighting as a team, not getting down on each other. That was bad last year. We’re just really growing up, really maturing.”

Washington led after a quarter, 18-9, with West closing within five at halftime. Washington re-extended its edge to 48-37 after three quarters, and the game never really felt in doubt.

Jack Jensen-Fitzpatrick led West (1-2) with 17 points, followed closely by Ethan Headings (15) and Henry Elser (13).

“I thought we played pretty well overall,” said Washington Coach Nate Garner. “I think we can do a better job at being disciplined at some points in the game. Understanding time and score and really taking advantage of fast-break opportunities, but if it’s not there, pull it out and get us into our offense. But other than that, we played tough and played good man-to-man defense much of the game.”

Washington closes the pre-holiday portion of its schedule with games against Cedar Rapids Kennedy, Linn-Mar and Cedar Rapids Xavier. It’ll be interesting to see how the Warriors stack up against teams that were all in the state tournament last season.

“Very excited about this group,” Garner said. “Then again, I know the Valley (Mississippi Valley Conference). I know our potential, we want to be at the top, so we’ve got to put a lot more work in.”

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AT CEDAR RAPIDS WASHINGTON

IOWA CITY WEST (54): Neil James 3-5 0-2 6, Owen Harms 1-3 1-2 3, Ethan Headings 7-13 1-2 15, Jack Jensen-Fitzpatrick 4-12 6-6 17, Henry Elser 4-11 5-6 13, Lowden Van Daele 0-2 0-0 0, Ahmet Toz 0-1 0-0 0, Jeremy Makenda 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-47 13-18 54.

CEDAR RAPIDS WASHINGTON (68): Zaccai Walters 3-6 2-7 4, Brian Robertson 4-7 2-2 10, Trae Fields 7-13 4-6 22, Chuck Crawley 3-9 0-0 7, Will Rahe 8-10 0-0 18, Mike Gillis 0-0 0-0 0, Donovan Stokes 0-0 0-0 0, William Stastny 0-1 0-0 0, Quinton Garner 0-0 0-0 0, Juna Aruna 1-1 1-4 3, Javion Seals 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-47 9-19 68.

Halftime - Washington 27, West 22. 3-point goals - West 3-15 (James 0-1, Harms 0-1, Headings 0-1, Jensen-Fitzpatrick 3-11, Elser 0-1), Washington 7-17 (Fields 4-9, Crawley 1-5, Rahe 2-3). Rebounds - West 27 (Elser 9), Washington 32 (Rahe 14). Total fouls - West 19, Washington 21. Technical foul - Fields. Fouled out - James, Headings. Turnovers - West 18, Washington 15.

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