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Massive comeback sends Cedar Rapids Xavier to state basketball tournament
Saints rally from 17 points down and win their Class 3A substate final over Decorah, 62-59, in overtime
Mar. 3, 2025 9:57 pm, Updated: Mar. 4, 2025 2:33 pm
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DECORAH - That’s just how you draw up a victory. Eh, no.
The bottom line for Cedar Rapids Xavier’s boys’ basketball team Monday night was that it WAS a victory. One that sends it to next week’s state tournament in Des Moines.
The specifics on how the Saints got to that 62-59 overtime win over second-ranked Decorah in a Class 3A substate final takes some time to explain. Xavier gave up runs of 18-0 and 25-1, was down by 14 points at halftime, 17 in the third quarter.
Yet still won.
“Our fortitude,” said Coach Mike Freeman. “I told them in the locker room at halftime ... that is was going to be a great second half. The heart of a champion. You’ve got to believe, gotta believe.”
Forgive Xavier’s rooters at this packed gymnasium if they were kind of skeptical. Though Xavier’s players said they never were.
“We were down 14 at halftime, but we knew we could come back because we were going to fight to the end,” said Kaleb Wilgenbusch, who had 30 points, seven in OT.
“It was like if we just make our shots, we’re still in this,” said Xavier’s Zander Murray. “When we got back to the locker room, we just talked through our defense. It was our defense mostly because it translates into our offense ... We started to flow so much better.”
Xavier (15-9), which plays third-ranked and second-seeded Knoxville (24-0) in a state tourney quarterfinal Tuesday, March 11 at 10:30 a.m. at Wells Fargo Arena, got off to a good start, taking a 13-6 lead deep into the first quarter. But then came Decorah’s run.
Man, it was something.
The Vikings (22-2) scored the final seven points of the quarter to forge a tie, then the first 11 of the second. After a Wilgenbusch free throw, Decorah then got the next seven points for a 31-14 lead.
Six-foot-10 junior center Cael LaFrentz was at the forefront of the run, his putback making it a 17-point game. Rolando Pino’s late 3 brought Xavier within 31-17 at the break, but Gavin Groux hit a 3 to begin the second half to take Decorah’s lead back to 17.
Xavier then chipped away. It was 43-37 game after three quarters.
“We told them to get it to eight or six at the end of the third quarter,” Freeman said.
The Saints got it to 48-47 in the fourth, only to have Decorah’s Noah Milburn drain a stone-cold 3 with 2:25 left to extend the lead back to four. Then came a pivotal moment: Murray hitting a trey at the top of the arc and getting fouled by LaFrentz, who flied out to try and block the shot.
That was his fifth. He finished with 12 points, 11 rebounds and a handful of blocks.
“That made it so much easier because you just expect it to get blocked (inside),” Wilgenbusch said. “His long arms are going to block me or something. Him fouling out gave me a clear lane to the bucket.”
Peyton Webb nailed a huge 3 to put Decorah back up, 54-51, with 1:35 left, but Wilgenbusch came right back down for an and-one three-point play off a drive to re-tie. Decorah ended up with the final shot, but Zach Driscoll’s 15-footer came up short.
The tremendous senior guard turned an ankle in the third quarter, which was another key point in this game. He finished with 18 points but went just 6 of 27 from the field.
“We didn’t hit shots. They hit a few more shots than we did,” said Decorah Coach Jon Carlson. “I don’t think we lose if Zach doesn’t biff his ankle. There are no bones about that. He wasn’t the same after it.
“Give Xavier credit, obviously. They came back. We knew they were going to fight, wasn’t a situation where they weren’t going to back down. We knew they were going to come at us ... A couple of calls maybe didn’t go our way, they made a few shots. Cael fouling out was a big thing, too.”
Wilgenbusch took over in the overtime, his drive gave Xavier its first lead since the first quarter, 56-54, with the teams eventually tied at 58. Yet another Wilgenbusch one-on-one drive gave Xavier the lead for good with 40 seconds left, 60-58.
It was 62-59 Saints with 10.1 left, Wilgenbusch missed two free throws (the first one he made but was called for stepping over the line before the ball went in), but he guarded Driscoll extremely closely on Decorah’s final possession, knocked the ball away and in the scramble the clock expired.
“Kaleb Wilgenbusch was phenomenal down the stretch,” Freeman said. “But it wasn’t just him ... Just a tremendous team effort.”
Murray added 13 points as Xavier’s other double-figures scorer. Webb had three 3s and 15 points off the bench for Decorah, LaFrentz added 12.
“Our coaches have been telling us all season we’re a good team,” Wilgenbusch said. “We play a hard schedule, but we were good enough to get here. And we did.”
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AT DECORAH
CEDAR RAPIDS XAVIER (62): Aiden Miller 1-3 0-0 3, A.J. Evans 2-9 3-4 7, Kaleb Wilgenbusch 10-19 9-16 30, Lorenzo Pino 1-5 1-2 4, Zander Murray 4-11 3-3 13, Carter Hoffmann 2-5 0-2 5, Jack Downey 0-1 0-0 0, Lee Gamez 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 19-55 16-27 62.
DECORAH (59): Trevor Kuennen 0-1 0-0 0, Noah Milburn 4-9 2-2 11, Cael LaFrentz 6-9 0-0 12, Gavin Groux 1-3 2-2 5, Zach Driscoll 6-27 3-5 18, Peyton Webb 6-12 0-0 15, Carter Dlhy 0-0 0-2 0. Totals 23-61 7-9 59.
Halftime - Decorah 31, Xavier 17. End of Regulation - 54-54. 3-point goals - Xavier 5-21 (Miller 0-3, Evans 0-1, Pino 1-4, Murray 2-6, Hoffmann 1-4, Downey 0-1, Gamez 0-2). Decorah 8-23 (Kuennen 0-1, Milburn 1-2, Groux 1-2, Driscoll 3-11, Webb 3-7). Rebounds - Xavier 44 (Evans 12), Decorah 33 (LaFrentz 11). Total fouls - Xavier 15, Decorah 19. Fouled out - LaFrentz. Turnovers - Xavier 13, Decorah 8.
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