Overtime heartbreak for Cedar Rapids Prairie in 4A boys’ state basketball semifinals

DES MOINES — That well-worn cliche about the difficulties of beating a team three times in a season. Add the difficulty in beating a good team twice to it.

Trey Lewis scored five straight points in overtime to put his team ahead, and Johnston beat Cedar Rapids Prairie, 61-57, in Thursday night’s Class 4A semifinals at Wells Fargo Arena.

Way, way, way back in early December, these teams played an equally-thrilling game on the southwest side of Cedar Rapids that Prairie won by three. This was revenge, and at the exact wrong time for the Hawks.

“Unfortunately that’s true,” said Prairie’s Elijah Ward. “It sucks. In this game, we just knew that we had to keep fighting and not let them have anything easy. That’s what we did. I know we didn’t come out on top, but we still finished in the top four in 4A basketball this year, so that’s something to be proud about. We’ll keep our heads high.”

As well they should.

» Photos: Cedar Rapids Prairie vs. Johnston in the Class 4A state semifinals

Prairie (18-7) qualified for the state tournament for the first time since 1998 and upended second-seeded Cedar Falls in Wednesday’s quarterfinals. Oh, so close to being a 7-seed playing in Friday night’s title tilt against No. 1 Ames.

Linn-Mar was the last Metro school to play in a 4A championship. That came in 2011 when it beat Des Moines Hoover.

“We were expecting to go as far as we could, to the championship,” said Prairie’s Gabe Burkle. “We felt like we prepared very well for them, even though it was short notice. Yeah, it’s definitely hard beating a team twice, but our preparation the whole week, really, was good. We just came up a little short.”

The teams were tied at halftime, with Johnston (21-3) taking a four-point edge into the fourth quarter. Prairie rallied to go ahead on a Burkle power move inside, 45-44, with 1:55 left, with Dionte Fliss picking up a steal on Johnston’s ensuing possession and making two free throws for a 47-44 lead with 1:33 to go.

Johnston tied it on Masen Ryan’s 3-pointer with 1:15 left. The Dragons took 39 shots in this game, 24 of them from beyond the arc.

Prairie missed a shot in the final minute, Ryan an open corner trey at the buzzer, and we went to OT. Lewis, Johnston’s fine senior point guard, scored on a drive, then took a deft back-door pass for an and-one three-point play and a 55-50 Dragons lead with 1:34 left in the extra session.

Prairie got it back to a one-point game in the final minute, but two Samuel Tornabane free throws, an untimely Hawks turnover and some more Tornabane free throws sealed the deal.

“Turnovers are the first thing that sticks out,” Prairie Coach Jeremy Rickertsen said, referring to his team’s 19 of them. “I think that’s the most we’ve had all year. We’ve been pretty good all year about taking care of the ball. They had 20 points off turnovers.”

Ryan had 18 points, Lewis 17 and Tornabane 15 to lead Johnston. Burkle finished with 14, Ward 13 and Jack Wagemester 10 for Prairie.

“They made shots, made free throws down the stretch,” Rickertsen said. “They’re a good team, a good defensive team. Seemed like they made everything hard for us offensively. Being well coached, they kind of knew what was coming and defended it well. It just felt like it was kind of uphill sledding most of the night. Having said that, I’m proud of the way our guys hung in there and how they battled to the end.”

AT DES MOINES

CEDAR RAPIDS PRAIRIE (57): Jake Walter 3-9 0-0 6, Jack Wagemester 4-6 0-0 10, Everett Koch 1-4 2-2 5, Dionte Fliss 2-3 2-2 8, Gabe Burkle 5-10 4-5 14, Reid Burkle 0-1 0-0 0, Elijah Ward 5-6 0-0 13, Makelle Taylor 0-1 1-2 1, Brayden Duerksen 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-40 9-11 57.

JOHNSTON (61): Masen Ryan 6-8 1-2 18, Trey Lewis 5-11 7-12 17, Steven Kramer 2-7 3-5 8, Nathan Ruisch 1-4 0-0 3, Jacob Simpson 0-1 0-0 0, Taylen Proctor 0-0 0-0 0, Samuel Tornabane 3-8 7-8 15. Totals 17-39 18-27 61.

Halftime - Prairie 21, Johnston 21. 3-point goals - Prairie 8-17 (Walter 0-1, Wagemester 2-3, Koch 1-4, Fliss 2-2, G. Burkle 0-2, R. Burkle 0-1, Ward 3-4), Johnston 9-24 (Ryan 5-6, Lewis 0-4, Kramer 1-4, Ruisch 1-3, Tornabane 2-7). Rebounds - Prairie 26 (Walter 11), Johnston 21 (Kramer 9). Total fouls - Prairie 23, Johnston 10. Fouled out - None. Assists - Prairie 11 (Walter 4), Johnston 11 (Lewis 5). Turnovers - Prairie 19, Johnston 12.

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