Prairie’s win over Cedar Falls sets up possible all-Cedar Rapids 4A state basketball championship game

DES MOINES — It’s OK to dare to dream at this point, right?

Two Metro teams qualified in Class 4A this week for the boys’ state basketball tournament. They just happened to end up in opposite brackets.

Cedar Rapids Prairie and Cedar Rapids Kennedy just happened to both win their quarterfinal games at Wells Fargo Arena, Prairie upending second-seeded Cedar Falls, 62-52, Wednesday afternoon.

There’s still a lot of hoops to play, a couple of top-notch opponents to vanquish, but could it possibly happen? An all Cedar Rapids final?

“That’d be something,” said Prairie’s Jake Walter.

“Yeah, let’s do it. Come on!” said Prairie’s Dionte Fliss.

There were a lot of folks out there who didn’t especially like Prairie’s draw at this tournament. The Hawks were the No. 7 seed, having to face a team that was on a 16-game win streak and that took down West Des Moines Valley, believed to be a fellow serious championship contender, in a substate final.

But there was a quiet confidence all along among this group. They’d beaten Cedar Falls by eight points early in the regular season and lost the return Mississippi Valley Conference matchup by one.

“We knew we could play with them and had played some really good basketball against them in spurts,” said Prairie Coach Jeremy Rickertsen. “So I don’t think we had that underdog mentality because we had that experience against them during the season.”

“I think as a team we knew that we’d beaten them and knew we let one go at Cedar Falls. That gave us a little edge,” Walter said. “We wanted our revenge, you know? We knew we could hang with them from the start.”

This was a physical encounter that was tight virtually the entire way. Prairie (18-6) would hit a big shot to create a bit of a spread, then Cedar Falls (20-3) would counter.

Most of the time it would be Trey Campbell doing that countering thing. The Northern Iowa-bound point guard was beyond sublime in a 32-point performance that included six 3-pointers.

“He’s obviously a tough guard out there,” said Walter, who led Prairie with 16 points, seven rebounds and three assists, not a bad performance at all for a fellow point guard. “We thought we were in places, but he’d just knock down a jumper. He got it going. He’s hard to stop when he’s got it going.”

A 7-0 run that began with three minutes to go finally created game-clinching separation for Prairie. A Walter drive-and-kick to Jack Wagemester for a 3 started it.

A couple of defensive stops, some ensuing free throws followed. A steal and layup by Fliss in the final 10 seconds was the capper.

He finished with 13 points. A bit player at the beginning of the season, he was elevated into the starting lineup when Elijah Ward broke his hand in late January, had surgery and was believed to done for the rest of the season.

“I kind of like it now,” Fliss said. “The beginning of the season, I didn’t really get any playing time. I don’t know, this just feels like a brotherhood. We all came together.”

All nine guys who played Wednesday for Prairie scored.

“We just said that to them, everyone contributed,” Rickertsen said. “Good all-around team win.”

This was Prairie’s first state tournament game since winning the Class 3A championship in 1998. It gets Johnston (20-3) in Friday night’s semifinals at 7:15. Prairie beat Johnston in December at Prairie.

By the way, Kennedy’s got top-seeded, top-ranked Ames in a preceding semifinal. Let’s go Cedar Rapids.

“It’s a possibility,” Rickertsen said with a smile. “Wouldn’t that be something?”

AT DES MOINES

CEDAR RAPIDS PRAIRIE (62): Jake Walter 4-10 6-7 16, Jack Wagemester 2-2 3-4 8, Everett Koch 0-1 2-2 2, Dionte Fliss 6-9 1-2 13, Gabe Burkle 2-5 2-2 6, Reid Burkle 2-2 0-0 4, Elijah Ward 3-4 0-0 8, Makelle Taylor 1-3 0-0 3, Brayden Duerksen 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 21-38 14-17 62.

CEDAR FALLS (52): Aaron Brost 0-2 2-2 2, Trey Campbell 11-21 4-5 32, Dallas Bear 3-9 0-0 8, Derek Woods 3-4 0-0 7, Cade Courbat 0-1 0-0 0, Carter Juhl 1-2 0-0 3, Anthony Galvin 0-0 0-0 0, Owen Denholm 0-0 0-0 0, Jake Peters 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 18-40 6-7 52.

Halftime - Prairie 28, Cedar Falls 25. 3-point goals - Prairie 6-12 (Walter 2-4, Wagemester 1-1, Koch 0-1, G. Burkle 0-1, Ward 2-3, Taylor 1-2), Cedar Falls 10-21 (Brost 0-2, Campbell 6-9, Bear 2-5, Woods 1-2, Courbat 0-1, Juhl 1-2). Rebounds - Prairie 23 (Walter 7), Cedar Falls 17 (Campbell 5). Total fouls - Prairie 15, Cedar Falls 17. Fouled out - None. Assists - Prairie 10 (Walter, Fliss 3), Cedar Falls 6 (Campbell 3). Turnovers - Prairie 6, Prairie 8.

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