Murray, Wilgenbusch, Evans, others make plays late to allow C.R. Xavier to post a 56-51 Class 3A substate semifinal win

CEDAR RAPIDS - That’s Zander Murray with a ‘Z.’

Though maybe he ought to change his first name to Xander with an ‘X’ instead. You know, X helps X to a big win.

The junior guard scored 20 points, 16 in the second half, as Cedar Rapids Xavier’s boys’ baskeball team outfought Mississippi Valley Conference parochial rival Dubuque Wahlert for a 56-51 win Thursday night in a high-intensity Class 3A substate semifinal at Xavier’s Ron Thillen Gymnasium.

“My teammates always support me,” Murray said. “We got to the locker room at halftime, and they told me to keep going, that they had full faith in me. They helped me get open, and I just tried to find a way to shoot the ball.”

Murray hit a trio of treys in the third quarter for Xavier (14-9), which beat Wahlert (13-10) in the regular season as well, 74-66. Then he had a nice reverse layup on a baseline drive, a steal and layup and an inside hoop in a span of a minute or so in the fourth.

Wahlert never did go away, though. Xavier led by nine points in the second quarter, but the Golden Eagles closed within three at halftime.

Wahlert went ahead briefly in the third quarter, its first lead since it was 4-0 very early. But a Kaleb Wilgenbusch inside hoop but Xavier up by a point going to the fourth.

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Murray’s flurry early in the fourth gave Xavier a 43-36 lead with 5:32 left in regulation. But again Wahlert rallied within a point down the stretch.

That’s when Xavier made timely plays on both offense and defense to seal the deal. A set-up play out of a timeout was executed perfectly, with Wilgenbusch scoring on a back-door layup with 53.8 seconds left for a 51-48 lead, with 6-foot-8 Saints center A.J. Evans coming from seemingly nowhere to swat away a Wahlert shot on the ensuing possession with 32.7 left.

Enough free throws and a couple more defensive stops, and that was that.

“Our sophomore year, we played them in the substate finals, and it was a low-scoring game the entire way, like this one was,” said Wilgenbusch, who finished with 17 points. “I thought as the game went on, we settled in and played well, especially on defense.”

Evans had at least a handful of blocked shots in the game. Official totals were not immediately available.

“Wilgy’s backdoor (was big),” said Xavier Coach Mike Freeman. “But I always like to go to the defensive end, so that blocked shot from A.J. I thought the second half we did a good job defensively of rotating ... overall real pleased with our defense. Just a lot of good plays from our guys.”

Connor Walsh hit three 3-pointers and had a team-high 14 points for Wahlert. Neither team shot it well (Wahlert 32 percent and Xavier 43 percent).

A week ago, this Xavier team was hit hard by influenza. It knocked out three starters (Murray, Evans and Lorenzo Pino).

But everyone’s healthy now and looking forward to that trip to Decorah on Monday night (7 p.m. tip) for a substate final against the second-ranked Vikings.

“It is a long trip, but I’m excited, though,” Wilgenbusch said. “They’ve got a good team. Can’t wait to get up there. I think it’ll be a good game. Hopefully we come out with a win and go to state.”

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AT RON THILLEN GYMASIUM

DUBUQUE WAHLERT (51): Will Richardson 0-1 1-4 1, Connor Walsh 4-14 3-4 14, Owen McCleary 3-8 1-1 7, Ethan Meyer 5-12 0-0 11, Luke Welbes 4-13 1-2 10, Peter Wedewer 2-8 3-3 8, Greg Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Graham Ahlers 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-56 9-14 51.

CEDAR RAPIDS XAVIER (56): Aiden Miller 1-3 0-0 3, A.J. Evans 3-11 2-3 8, Kaleb Wilgenbusch 6-10 5-9 17, Lorenzo Pino 2-4 2-2 6, Zander Murray 8-17 1-2 20, Carter Hoffmann 1-3 0-0 2, Jack Downey 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-48 10-18 56.

Halftime - Xavier 22, Wahlert 19. 3-point goals - Wahlert 6-26 (Walsh 3-8, Meyer 1-5, McCleary 0-4, Welbes 1-4, Wedewer 1-5), Xavier 4-15 (Miller 1-3, Wilgenbusch 0-2, Pino 0-1, Murray 3-9). Rebounds - Wahlert 36 (Walsh, Welbes 8), Xavier 33 (Evans 10). Total fouls - Wahlert 15, Xavier 15. Fouled out - None. Flop warnings - Wahlert, Xavier. Turnovers - Wahlert 6, Xavier 9.

22-1 14-9

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