Prairie shoots lights out from distance in 86-65 substate opener win over Jefferson

CEDAR RAPIDS — Todd Kuntz is a youngish head boys’ basketball coach who came to Cedar Rapids Prairie this season after a successful stint at much-smaller Dunkerton.

But the guy has proven his chops, including Monday night in his team’s Class 4A substate opener.

Kuntz just had a feeling opponent Cedar Rapids Jefferson might throw a defensive wrinkle or two at his team, which the J-Hawks did. But Prairie was ready for a zone defense and exploited it.

“We worked a lot on it this weekend in practice. Like three different days,” Prairie’s Jace McDermott said, after the Hawks picked up an 86-65 win. “We were going over all of our different sets in zone and what we might see from them. We had a feeling they might switch around. It was harder because we’re used to seeing man, and we haven’t seen much zone this year. I think once we settled in, it worked out, we got some good shots off of it.”

Prairie (11-11) got shooters like McDermott open looks against the zone, and the junior wing nailed them. He finished with a team-high 22 points, including draining five 3-pointers.

Prairie was 9 of 18 from beyond the arc in the first half as it built a 41-24 halftime lead. Jefferson went back to a man defense in the second half, which meant the Hawks attacked more on the interior and on the drive.

Six players ended up scoring double digits: McDermott, point guard LaMarious Clark (13 points), Apollo Payne (12), Logan Wagemester (12), Austin Joens (11) and Reid Burkle (10).

“The funny thing I think total in 21 games, we’ve gone about three possessions against zone all year,” Kuntz said. “But I just knew (Jefferson head coach) Wes Bruns, I knew he was probably going to change it up. The third time playing them this season, we know them, they know us. So I figured they’d come out with something special. We really worked on zone offense a lot the last few days of practice. It’s hard to simulate that because we’re not a zone (defense) team. But thankfully we’ve got some pretty good scout team players, they busted it hard, and they pushed us.

“I felt like we were ready to go, that we could get our shooters in some advantageous positions. Certainly it helped early to hit some shots and get them out of that zone and just kind of get our feet comfortable.“

Avonus Hodges tied McDermott for game scoring honors with 22 points for Jefferson (4-18), which definitely didn’t quit after it got down big early. Preston Blanchett Jr. added 15 points and a game-high nine rebounds.

Now it’s ninth-ranked Pleasant Valley (16-5) for Prairie in a substate semifinal Friday night at 7 in the Quad Cities. This was the second win in a row for the Hawks, though they haven’t won three straight all season.

That needs to change for this season to continue.

“We feel like we’re going to give them our best,” McDermott said. “They’re very good, but we’re going to compete with them, give them our best. Work hard these next three days in practice and give them our all.”

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Photos: Cedar Rapids Jefferson at Cedar Rapids Prairie boys’ basketball

“I think we match up fairly well with them, I really do,” Kuntz said. “But PV is tough. You saw what they did last year. They’re unbelievably well coached, they start five seniors, and we’re playing on their home floor. You look at every tale of the tape, the odds are going to be stacked against us. But I know it’s a game that we can compete in, we’re going to do everything we can the next three days to prepare. That’s the beautiful thing about this time of year. You never know what’s going to happen.”

Cedar Rapids Prairie 86, Cedar Rapids Jefferson 65

AT CEDAR RAPIDS PRAIRIE

CEDAR RAPIDS JEFFERSON (65): Preston Blanchett Jr. 6-16 2-2 15, Deavion Crowder 2-4 1-2 5, Jamie Kaiser 2-7 0-0 4, Avonus Hodges 10-20 1-3 22, Khai Gatewood 0-1 0-0 0, Dayten Guy 1-4 0-0 3, Eric Smith 4-5 1-2 9, Tyler Huston 0-0 0-0 0, L.J. Nyenow Jr. 2-3 0-2 4, Austin Wilcox 0-0 0-0 0, Jeremiah Peiffer 0-0 0-0 0, Ian Eirp 1-2 0-0 3, Spencer Ohlhauser 0-0 0-0 0, Carter Sherard 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-62 5-11 65.

CEDAR RAPIDS PRAIRIE (86): Reid Burkle 2-5 6-8 10, Jace McDermott 7-14 3-4 22, Apollo Payne 6-10 0-0 12, LaMarious Clark 6-10 0-2 13, Logan Wagemester 4-7 2-6 12, Austin Joens 3-4 2-2 11, Devin Ikeda 0-1 3-4 3, T.Y. Pour 0-2 0-0 0, Will Wehr 0-3 0-0 0, Carson Nove 1-1 0-0 3, Shraden Lechtenberg 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-57 16-26 86.

Halftime - Prairie 41, Jefferson 24. 3-point goals - Jefferson 4-19 (Blanchett Jr. 1-5, Crowder 0-1, Kaiser 0-3, Hodges 1-3, Gatewood 0-1, Guy 1-4, Eirp 1-2), Prairie 12-25 (McDermott 5-11, Payne 0-1, Clark 1-2, Wagemester 2-4, Joens 3-4, Pour 0-1, Wehr 0-1, Nove 1-1). Rebounds - Jefferson 30 (Blanchett Jr. 9), Prairie 39 (Clark 8). Total fouls - Jefferson 19, Prairie 15. Technical fouls - Jefferson Coach Wes Bruns, Nyenow Jr. Fouled out - Nyenow Jr. Turnovers - Jefferson 15, Prairie 17.

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