Cedar Rapids Jefferson knocks off Cedar Rapids Washington for 3rd time this season

CEDAR RAPIDS - Their record could look a lot more shiny than it does.

But it's more important to win close games in the postseason, and that's exactly what the Jefferson J-Hawks did Monday night.

They made enough plays offensively and defensively down the stretch to topple Cedar Rapids Washington, 55-52, in a fun Class 4A substate quarterfinal at Cedar Rapids Prairie. This was the third win over their crosstown rival this season, and the toughest, without question.

'Coach told us it's always hard to beat a team three times,” said Jeff's Royshawn Webb. 'I felt like it was tough, but we got the job done.”

Webb played a major role in that, hitting some important driving shots, including one with 1:36 left that put Jefferson (10-13) ahead for good, 50-49. He finished with 13 points, second to Adam Van Oort for team scoring honors.

Van Oort had 21. Jefferson lost six games by six points or less in the regular season.

'All around in the second half, everybody just stepped up,” said Jefferson Coach Brandon Horman. 'They are becoming everything that we weren't earlier in the season ... The plays that they made, and the times that they made them were huge. The poise, the composure. They grew up a lot tonight. We've been growing all year, but tonight was a big step in that growth. What better time to have it.”

A poor-shooting team most of the season, Washington (7-15) was the opposite here, composed on offense and getting a big night from senior guard Keion Wills. He had 17, including a trio of treys, one that made it a 52-51 game with 10.1 seconds left.

But Jeff's Kane Kramer stepped up with a pair of clutch free throws to make it 54-51 with eight seconds left, and Wills inadvertently stepped out of bounds in the frontcourt as he tried to work for a tying 3-pointer with a second left.

Laveechie Williams added 12 points for Washington, which shot 55 percent from the field.

'We came up short,” said Williams, the only Metro prep to average a double-double this season (14 points, 10 rebounds). 'The offensive rebounds hurt us. They killed us there. We had too many turnovers, too.”

Jefferson's aggressive trap defense at halfcourt forced 16 Washington turnovers and helped turn around what was a 26-21 Warriors lead at halftime. Second-chance points also were telltale for the J-Hawks.

'We just had to go out and play hard,” Webb said. 'At halftime, Coach told us this was our last 16 minutes, that we had to give it our all and leave it on the floor. I felt like we did that.”

'I talked to them at half that we'd done an all right job on the boards, but we could have done better,” Horman said. 'There were some opportunities there where I felt we could have gotten some offensive putbacks, but we just weren't aggressive enough to get there. Those points would have been huge. But the second half, there weren't too many rebounds that we didn't get to, or at least battle for.”

Now it's second-ranked Iowa City West for Jefferson. The Trojans won both regular-season encounters, including scoring 102 on the J-Hawks late in the regular season.

'We prepared very well these last two days, with two of the better practices we've had,” Horman said. 'The last couple of weeks, we weren't really very sharp. But they regrouped these last couple of days, knowing that our new season started tonight.”

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AT C.R. PRAIRIE

C.R. WASHINGTON (52): Nolan Potter 1-1 1-2 3, Laveechie Williams 6-9 0-0 12, Noah Dawson 0-1 0-0 0, Keion Wills 7-12 0-0 17, Hunter Strait 4-9 1-2 10, Dallas Hobbs 1-2 2-2 4, Ian Thomas 3-6 0-0 6, Austin Bennett 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-40 4-6 52.

C.R. JEFFERSON (55): Valentino Green 3-8 0-2 6, Adam Van Oort 9-17 0-0 21, Dennis McKinney 4-6 1-3 9, Kane Kramer 1-6 2-2 5, Royshawn Webb 6-10 1-2 13, James Brown Jr. 0-5 1-2 1, Treyton McCauley 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 23-54 5-11 55.

Halftime - Washington 26, Jefferson 21. 3-point goals - Washington 4-10 (Dawson 0-1, Wills 3-5, Strait 1-3, Thomas 0-1), Jefferson 4-14 (Van Oort 3-8, Kramer 1-4, McCauley 0-1). Rebounds - Washington 23 (Williams 7), Jefferson 30 (Green 9). Total fouls - Washington 13, Jefferson 8. Fouled out - None. Turnovers - Washington 16, Jefferson 10.

l Comments: (319) 398-8259; jeff.johnson@thegazette.com