Derrick Diggins emerging as super soph for Kennedy

CEDAR RAPIDS — For Derrick Diggins, it's easy. The primary objective is plain, simple and straightforward.

'Make mom proud,' he said, after his 25 points helped Cedar Rapids Kennedy past Cedar Rapids Xavier, 62-46, Friday night at Xavier's Ron Thillen Gymnasium.

How does he anticipate making mom proud? Again, that's easy to answer.

'By keeping my grades tight, keeping them above Bs, at least,' he said. 'And by working hard every day.'

Which leads us to his secondary objective. It's not just Division I college basketball the emerging 6-foot-2 point guard wants to play, it's high-major Division I college basketball.

Specifically, at this little private school in Durham, N.C., you may have heard of before.

'I want to go to Duke,' Diggins said, with an irresistible precociousness. 'I saw (Los Angeles Clippers guard) Austin Rivers play at Duke, and he's great. So I was like 'Yeah, I kind of like Duke.' Their coach is a great coach. Our coach is a great coach. I love all my coaches. They treat me like a man, not like I'm a sophomore. I feel like their coach at Duke, he treats his guys like they're men.'

Diggins has begun this season playing like a man. He's averaging a smidge under 19 points in Kennedy's first three games, including a 20-point night last week going head to head against Spirit Lake's Billy Brown, a Division I signee with North Dakota.

He upped his play even more Friday night, making 8 of his 13 shots from the field, including a trio of treys. If you haven't heard of this kid before, you will.

That's a guarantee.

'I think he can be special,' said Kennedy Coach Jon McKowen. 'He's special for a sophomore right now. But it takes the work off the floor, takes the work on the floor. He's got to keep getting better. He's a really, really good sophomore, if you want to look at it like that. You look around, and he gets to play against a lot of Division I guards. He played against one last Saturday and did fine. He'll get to play against five or six more this year.

'So we'll find out. We'll know a lot more by the end of the year. The great part is no decision or anything like that needs to be made now. He just has a different passion about basketball than most kids do.'

Diggins began last season on Kennedy's freshman team but graduated to the sophomore level after just three practices. He was brought up to practice with the varsity last holiday break and literally forced his way onto the team.

By the end of the season, he was starting for the Cougars in the state tournament. This season, his improvement is highly noticeable.

'I'm so much better now,' he said. 'I'm so much quicker, a better shooter, smarter. I just know how to play the game better. I played a little AAU ball in the summer, but I always kept in contact with Coach. Always asked him if I could get into the gym and do a little bit every day. I blew by (Xavier's Mitch) Burger tonight, and that's because of my first step. We worked on it a lot.'

Forward Drake Brewster added 16 points for Kennedy, which improved to 2-1. The Cougars held a decided edge on the interior, which helped them assume a five-point halftime lead and then elongate it in the second half.

A stunning 24 of Xavier's first 32 shots from the field were taken beyond the 3-point arc, an over-reliance on distance shooting that generally isn't a good recipe for success. The Saints (2-1) finished 10 of 32 there, shooting only two free throws the entire game, missing both.

Jackson Joens led the way for Xavier with 17 points, including five treys. Burger had 11.

AT C.R. XAVIER

C.R. KENNEDY (62): Drake Brewster 7-12 2-2 16, Adam Wall 0-3 0-0 0, Derek Girling 1-2 2-2 4, Michael Bisenius 1-5 0-0 2, Derrick Diggins 8-13 6-8 25, Matthew Gardner 1-4 0-0 2, Matt Berst 1-2 3-3 5, Malik Haynes 2-5 0-0 6, Nick Duehr 0-1 0-0 0, Shaun Beyer 1-2 0-0 2, Carter Krall 0-0 0-0 0, Caleb Carlson 0-0 0-0 0, Kollin Wiebel 0-0 0-0 0, Jake Olejniczak 0-0 0-0 0, Jackson Foley 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-49 13-15 62.

C.R. XAVIER (46): Ryan Stulken 0-3 0-0 0, Max Techau 2-4 0-0 6, Jackson Joens 6-13 0-0 17, Mitch Burger 5-16 0-0 11, Matt Mims 2-6 0-0 6, Nolan Butkowski 1-3 0-0 2, Max Jonson 2-2 0-0 4, Blake Whitten 0-0 0-2 0, Bryce Schulte 0-0 0-0 0, Reese Houtakker 0-0 0-0 0, Michael Fettkether 0-1 0-0 0, Spencer Dempewolf 0-0 0-0 0, Brett Burns 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-48 0-2 46.

Halftime — Kennedy 26, Xavier 21. 3-point goals — Kennedy 5-16 (Diggins 3-6, Girling 0-1, Berst 0-1, Haynes 2-5, Bisenius 0-3), Xavier 10-32 (Stulken 0-2, Techau 2-2, Joens 5-11, Burger 1-9, Mims 2-5, Butkowski 0-2, Fettkether 0-1). Rebounds — Kennedy 29 (Brewster 7), Xavier 32 (Mims 6). Total fouls — Kennedy 10, Xavier 15. Fouled out — Burger. Turnovers — Kennedy 6, Xavier 17.

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