Prairie riding high after big win over Wahlert

CEDAR RAPIDS — Cedar Rapids Prairie's boys' basketball team went away from its tendencies to come away with an enormous win Tuesday night.

The Hawks nicked two-time defending Class 3A state champion Dubuque Wahlert at home, 57-56, in what certainly had to be the biggest victory of second-year head coach Jeremy Rickertson's career.

Truthfully, this was one of the biggest victories Prairie has had in awhile. Credit playing a different defense in helping obtain it.

'To this point, we've been all man to man,' Rickertsen said. 'But we knew we'd probably have to play zone against them.'

That's because Prairie is a small team, with 6-foot-3 junior Jake Eilers its starting center. There was no way he could match up man to man against 6-8 Wahlert big man Cordell Pemsl, a University of Iowa signee.

Few guys can.

'We always had a guy in front of and a guy behind Pemsl,' Rickertsen said. 'Because when he got the ball in the paint, we were done.'

Pemsl still got his, scoring 18 points. Guard David Wedewer added 15 for the Golden Eagles and 6-7 forward Riley Till 14, but no one else was a factor.

Meanwhile, Prairie nickled and dimed its way offensively. Max Smith-Drahos was the only Hawk who scored in double figures, and that was just 10 points.

But Eilers and Ryan Oxley had nine each, Cal Clark eight and Jalen Rima and Mason Hook six apiece.

'It was the epitome of a team win,' Rickertsen said. 'We got a little something from everyone.'

Prairie is 4-1, 2-0 in the Mississippi Valley Conference going into another tough one Friday night at Linn-Mar. The Hawks figure to be contenders in a watered-down Mississippi Division.

The power in the league appears to all be in the Valley Division, with Wahlert, Linn-Mar, Iowa City West, Cedar Falls and Cedar Rapids Kennedy.

'We have that in us. We have that potential,' Rickertsen said of a division title. 'I wouldn't say we played our best basketball Tuesday night. To be honest, you don't want to be playing your best basketball right now. We'll have good stretches of play, about four or five minutes or so, then we'll have stretches where our basketball IQ you seriously wonder about.'

AROUND THE HOOP

— Maquoketa gave West Delaware its first loss of the season Tuesday night, 72-60. The Cardinals are 5-1, one more win than they had all last season. Four players are averaging double figures in scoring, led by senior guard Jon Ernst (19.0). Former Kennedy assistant Derek Roberts is Maquoketa's first-year head coach.

"'In our summer meeting, Jon told me one of his goals was to be the conference's player of the year. He just has that internal drive,' Roberts said. 'We just have really good kids. They are coachable, work hard and want to win ... We've got nine seniors, so a lot of these kids have been around the block.'

— Blaine Gretter of Sigourney is the leading scorer in the area in the early going, averaging 22.3 points per game. Solon's Streeter McIlravy is right behind him at 22.0. He's the son of three-time NCAA wrestling champion Lincoln McIlravy.

— It's down to seven unbeaten teams in the area. They are Cascade (5-0), Northeast Goose Lake (7-0), Durant (7-0), North Linn (5-0), Montezuma (6-0), Iowa Mennonite (5-0) and Meskwaki Settlement School (6-0).

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