No late-game collapse this time for Cedar Rapids Washington boys basketball team

CEDAR RAPIDS - It was not quite a year ago.

The exact date was January 31, 2025. That was the last time Cedar Rapids Washington and Cedar Rapids Jefferson played a boys basketball game against one another.

Man, it was something.

Washington led the entire game and by a long way, specifically 21 points in the second half and 16 at the end of three quarters before everything suddenly switched. One of the most unexpected fourth-quarter comebacks you’ll ever see brought Jefferson all the way back for a 65-61 win.

Stunning.

“We blew a 20-point lead. That’s all I remember,” Washington guard Trae Fields said Tuesday night after the Warriors got some revenge via a 68-38 win at Wash. “Yeah, we just let it go.”

“Oh, man, I’ve kind of blocked that one out,” said Washington head coach Nate Garner.

Of course, Garner really hasn’t completely blocked it out. Coaches will always remember games that get away.

“I remember it was an 18 to 20-point lead going to the fourth quarter, and we weren’t all dialed in the way we needed to be,” Garner said. “Then I remember calling timeouts, and still everything was going wrong. I just remember looking at the scoreboard, and everything went away. The momentum switched, and before you knew it ...”

Washington built a 40-14 halftime lead and never came close to relinquishing it this time. In fact, the Warriors (3-4) extended it, getting the 35-point continuous clock rolling in the fourth quarter.

Sophomore Fields scored a game-high 24 points, including splashing six 3-pointers. The kid’s game is really evolving into something very good.

Will Rahe added 18 points and eight rebounds. All 16 Warriors who suited up got to play, which always is a bonus.

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The blowout win ended a four-game losing streak as well.

“Coach said make sure we keep the lead,” Fields said. “Because last year we were being selfish. There were cameras, everybody was trying to get their own buckets because we were up so much. It was like ‘Me, me, me.’ It was ‘me’ time. We let off, didn’t have our foot on the gas the whole game. That’s what killed us.

“Tonight, the third quarter, we just really shut them down. The first three minutes, we came out on the gas.”

Garner claimed he didn’t make a big deal of last year’s game to his team, most of whom experienced it first hand.

“I brought it up before the game, that was it,” he sad. “I just said ‘Receipts from the last time we played. Keep the receipts. Keep your receipts.’”

It’s been a struggle so far for a Jefferson club with a first-year head coach in alumni RoyShawn Webb. The J-Hawks haven’t reached 50 points in their last four games, haven’t hit 40 in their last two.

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Zach Thielman led Jeff with 14 points, including four treys in the second half. Webb said when he took the coaching job that it would take some time to build the program to where he wants it.

“The biggest thing is we have to play better,” Webb said. “We have to be consistent with what we’re doing. We did some good things tonight, but you can’t do that for a small period of time, you have to do it for 32 minutes, because that’s how much is in a basketball game. We just haven’t quite figured out how to be more consistent on both ends of the floor. That’s just where we’re at right now.”

AT CEDAR RAPIDS WASHINGTON

CEDAR RAPIDS JEFFERSON (38): L.J. Nyenow Jr. 1-6 2-4 4, Ryen Feickert 1-3 0-0 2, Zach Thielman 5-9 0-0 14, Ty Kuennen 1-6 0-0 2, Eric Smith 3-5 1-2 8, Jordan Wilcox 0-0 0-0 0, Layne Willman 1-3 2-4 4, Christian Rivera 0-3 2-2 2, DaeNovious Johnson 1-4 0-1 2, Cayden Wilson 0-1 0-0 0, Albert Meiborg 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 13-40 7-13 38.

CEDAR RAPIDS WASHINGTON (78): Zaccai Walters 1-4 2-2 4, Brian Robertson 2-2 0-1 4, Will Rahe 8-11 2-2 18, Chuck Crawley 3-11 0-0 7, Trae Fields 9-15 0-0 24, Quinton Garner 2-5 0-0 4, Trei Crowder 1-2 0-0 2, Juma Aruna 1-2 0-0 2, Mike Gillis 0-1 0-0 0, William Stastny 0-1 0-0 0, Javion Seals 0-2 1-2 1, Donovan Stokes 0-1 0-0 0, Nolan Zieser 0-0 0-0 0, Cal Slessor 0-0 0-0 0, Israel Lathope 1-1 0-0 2, Lewis Foster 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 28-59 5-7 78.

Halftime - Washington 40, Jefferson 14. 3-point goals - Jefferson 5-21 (Nyenow Jr. 0-2, Thielman 4-8, Kuennen 0-4, Smith 1-1, Willman 0-2, Rivera 0-1, Johnson 0-3), Washington 7-23 (Walter 0-1, Rahe 0-2, Crawley 1-7, Fields 6-9, Garner 0-1, Crowder 0-1, Aruna 0-1, Seals 0-1). Rebounds - Jefferson 28 (Thielman 5), Washington 34 (Rahe 8). Total fouls - Jefferson 7, Washington 14. Fouled out - None. Turnovers - Jefferson 17, Washington 9.

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