Jefferson boys’ basketball team off to 5-1 start

CEDAR RAPIDS - Wow, what a week for the Cedar Rapids Jefferson boys’ basketball team.

It began on Tuesday night with a shocking victory at Class 4A top-five Cedar Falls. It concluded Friday night with a 56-48 home win over rival Cedar Rapids Washington.

These J-Hawks have gone from losing all the time last season to winning all the time this season. They’re 5-1, more than twice as many Ws as they had in 2020-21 when they went 2-18.

Even they admit they didn’t see this coming.

“A little surprising, yeah,” said Jefferson forward Dominic White, who had a five-point interior flurry in the fourth quarter that extended a precarious two-point J-Hawks lead back out to seven. “Especially after last year. But we’re competing. We’re here to win.”

“Our confidence is high,” said Jefferson forward Andreas Williams, whose game-high 19 points included a 15-point first-half splurge that gave Jeff a 31-14 halftime lead. “Practice. It’s just been practice. The time we put in over the summer with our new coach (Wes Bruns). Practice has been the big difference for us. Yes, it’s surprising. It’s surprising us.”

Washington (3-3), meanwhile, had a two-step-up, one-step-back week. The Warriors beat Mount Pleasant, then gave Waterloo West its first loss of the season, only to drop this one.

Simply put, Wash wouldn’t have hit water if it had fallen out of a boat in the first half. It made just 5 of 33 shots from the field, 2 of 10 attempts from beyond the 3-point arc and 2 of 8 free-throw tries.

Traijan Sain brought his team back with a 20-point second half, his lengthy presence at the top of Washington’s extended trapping defense creating a plethora of Jefferson turnovers in the second half. The Warriors got within 37-34 at the end of the third quarter and it was 39-37 early in the fourth, with Washington missing a 3-pointer that would have given it a lead.

“We’re just not shooting it well,” said Washington Coach Justin Decker, adding he didn’t feel his team was ready to go at the beginning of Friday night’s game. “We’re trying to get more kids into the gym. I mean, we’re shooting 48 percent from the free-throw line ... Our defense is keeping us in games. But our offense right now is completely atrocious. Our guys know it.”

Williams called this game “personal” considering Washington’s 79-0 win over Jefferson to start the 2021 football season. Bruns emotionally called it another example of how this team just seems to be getting better and better on a daily basis.

Bruns is in his first year as head coach at Jefferson, after previously being a sophomore coach at the school. He was sophomore coach last season at Cedar Rapids Prairie and has other head coaching experience at Cedar Rapids Xavier and Mount Vernon, listing MV’s Ed Timm as a huge influence.

“Obviously I think it’s our senior leadership. They refuse to lose,” Bruns said. “I think we’re all in together, and it’s exciting right now ... Coach Timm always asks me ‘Are you getting better? Are you getting better?’ They’re learning to win. I’ll never forget those words he told me. They’re learning how to win. And it’s fun watching that.

“I guess when you’re 54 years old and you’ve gone through the crap I’ve gone through, I get a little emotional about it. But it’s really fun to watch. Fun to be a part of it.”

--------------------

AT CEDAR RAPIDS JEFFERSON

C.R. WASHINGTON (48): Traijan Sain 7-17 6-12 21, J.J. Willis 4-10 0-0 8, Jaden Harris 2-10 0-2 4, Jesse Sellers 5-10 0-0 12, Will Hodges 0-7 0-0 0, Omoro Crusoe 1-4 0-0 2, Bryce Brim 0-3 0-0 0, Steven Cain 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 19-61 7-16 48.

C.R. JEFFERSON (56): Ian Wiederin 0-3 0-0 0, Kaden Haller 5-8 0-2 10, Andreas Williams 8-11 0-0 19, Caden Schroeder 4-9 2-2 12, Ayrondus Hodges 3-6 3-4 9, Brayden Kindhart 0-2 0-0 0, Kay’Zure Lewis 0-1 0-0 0, Dominic White 2-2 2-3 6, Carson Dighton 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-42 7-11 56.

Halftime - Jefferson 31, Washington 14. 3-point goals - Washington 3-13 (Sain 1-2, Willis 0-1, Harris 0-3, Sellers 2-4, Crusoe 0-2, Brim 0-1), Jefferson 5-20 (Wiederin 0-2, Haller 0-2, Williams 3-5, Schroeder 2-6, Hodges 0-2, Kindhart 0-2, Lewis 0-1). Rebounds - Washington 36 (Sain 9), Jefferson 33 (Haller, Schroeder 7). Total fouls - Washington 12, Jefferson 17. Fouled out - W. Hodges. Turnovers - Washington 10, Jefferson 19.

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