Cedar Rapids Kennedy ends regular season with blowout of Iowa City High

CEDAR RAPIDS — Take this one, bottle it and break it back open next week. Then do the same thing again and again and again.

Cedar Rapids Kennedy couldn't have had a better regular-season finale than Thursday night's 82-55 blowout of Iowa City High.

There wasn't anything the Cougars did poorly. They were good defensively and purely great on offense.

The stats didn't lie. Kennedy (10-11) made half of its 22 3-point attempts, shot 52 percent from the field overall and sank 19 of 22 free throws.

The Cougars' ball movement was tremendous all night. They scored 28 points in the second quarter, then hit eight of their 11 shots from the field to add 22 more points in the third.

'We were just firing on all cylinders,' said Kennedy's Drake Brewster. 'We were playing great with one another. We were just having a good time out there, and it showed on the scoreboard.'

Michael Bisenius made four triples and had a team-high 18 points. Brewster added 16, Shaun Beyer and Derrick Diggins 11 each.

Consistency has been the season-long issue for Kennedy, but the Cougars go into the postseason on a four-game win streak and winners of five of six. They play Monday night against Waterloo West in a Class 4A substate opener.

'You want to play well in your last outing,' said Kennedy Coach Jon McKowen. 'Our whole focus has been on February. How are we going to play in February? We've played really well, except for one hiccup ... This wasn't really a surprise to anyone in our locker room because this is what we've seen in practice all year. It's starting to come out (in games). We've been a good basketball team in February, and we hope to carry that into late February and March.'

'We've had all those struggles as a team,' Brewster said. 'Just learning and learning and learning. Now it's paying off. We're showing everyone what we can actually do.'

This game shouldn't ruin what all has been accomplished this season for City High (12-9). The Little Hawks have their first winning campaign since 2008-09, beat rival Iowa City West last week for the first time in 15 tries and finished tied with Cedar Rapids Xavier for the MVC's Mississippi Division championship.

To add insult to injury here, starting point guard Naeem Smith went down with a severely sprained ankle in the second half. He'll have a week to heal, as City High doesn't play its 4A substate opener until a week from Friday.

'We got brought down to earth,' said City High Coach Don Showalter, who notched his 600th career victory Tuesday night against Dubuque Senior. 'After (beating) West, I thought maybe the Dubuque Senior game would be the one we'd really struggle with. But that was at home, so that helped us. Kennedy just shot so well. We were trying to get hands up on their shooters because they were making all of them, then we'd get out of position. Give Kennedy credit, no doubt about it.'

AT C.R. KENNEDY

IOWA CITY HIGH (55): Jason Jones 5-8 0-0 10, Nile Ringen 5-11 0-0 14, Micah Martin 5-8 1-1 11, Naeem Smith 2-5 1-2 5, Henry Mulligan 1-10 0-0 2, Charles Johnson 4-4 3-5 11, Vance Dillon 0-1 0-0 0, Gabriel Nkumu 0-0 0-0 0, Cole Cotton 0-0 0-1 0, Shamari Scott 0-0 0-0 0, Conrad Donnelly 0-1 0-0 0, Gonzalo Olaguez-Duarte 1-1 0-0 2, Louis Craig 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-49 5-9 55.

C.R. KENNEDY (82): Drake Brewster 4-7 6-7 16, Derek Girling 1-1 0-0 2, Adam Wall 1-6 0-0 2, Michael Bisenius 7-11 0-0 18, Matthew Berst 2-2 0-0 4, Shaun Beyer 5-7 1-1 11, Derrick Diggins 1-5 8-8 11, Jackson Foley 3-7 0-0 9, Nick Duehr 1-1 2-2 5, Malik Haynes 0-1 1-2 1, Ryan King 0-0 0-0 0, Jake Olejniczak 0-1 1-2 1, Kollin Wiebel 1-1 0-0 2, Carter Krall 0-0 0-0 0, Isaiah Harris 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-50 19-22 82.

Halftime — Kennedy 42, City High 35. 3-point goals — City High 4-16 (Ringen 4-8, Mulligan 0-7, Dillon 0-1), Kennedy 11-22 (Brewster 2-2, Bisenius 4-6, Diggins 1-4, Foley 3-7, Duehr 1-1, Haynes 0-1, Olejniczak 0-1). Rebounds — City High 24 (Martin 4, Kennedy 27 (Wall, Beyer 4). Total fouls — City High 19, Kennedy 13. Fouled out — Nkumu.

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