Jeff Johnson

Monticello’s boys’ basketball team has been to the state tournament three years in a row, making it to the Class 2A semifinals last season. The Panthers uncharacteristically lost two games before the holiday break, but hope a big win this week over ninth-ranked Camanche can springboard it in the new year.

Cedar Rapids Xavier’s boys’ basketball team ran its record to 7-0 with a 55-43 win Tuesday night at Cedar Rapids Washington. The Saints will take a No. 1 ranking into the holiday break, that in Class 3A.

The Iowa Heartlanders have played an ECHL-high 10 games that have gone beyond regulation this season. They’ve only one three, though that third one came in their last game, a Saturday night thriller over Kalamazoo.

The Iowa High School Athletic Association has released their first-ever official boys’ basketball rankings. Your top-ranked teams are Cedar Rapids Xavier in Class 3A, Waukee Northwest in 4A, Central Lyon in 2A and Grand View Christian in 1A.

Waverly-Shell Rock has agreed to leave the Northeast Iowa Conference following the 2023-24 school year. The other five members of the league previously voted to remove the school from the league, mostly because of its larger enrollment.

Sophomore Jack McCaffery is the youngest of Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery’s children. His Iowa City West team is running its offense through him, despite his young age, and he responded Friday night with a game-high 21 points in a 62-43 win over Linn-Mar.

The Linn-Mar girls’ basketball team knocked off Class 4A top-ranked Cedar Rapids Xavier last Friday night. The Lions gave Class 5A No. 6 Iowa City West its first loss of the season Friday night, 49-39.

Jacob Kraft drove with his mother from their home in Rochester, N.Y., to Cedar Rapids to fully move in with his local billet family in preparation for the 2022-23 Cedar Rapids RoughRiders season. Mom made him get checked out medically after he complained of a sore throat, with the diagnosis being mononucleosis, which kept him out the first month of the USHL season.

With three starters back, MFL MarMac was expected to have a good boys’ basketball team this season. The Bulldogs haven’t disappointed, winning their first seven games in blowout fashion, with its “closest” game being 26 points.

It was Field Trip Day at Xtream Arena on Wednesday, with the Iowa Heartlanders and Kalamazoo Wings partaking in an ECHL game that began at 10:35 a.m. Around 1,500 local elementary school kids attended the game, providing a unique atmosphere.

Cedar Rapids Jefferson’s boys’ basketball team won its first two games this season, but it’s been a rougher go since then. The J-Hawks have lost three in a row, including decisively at the hands of Waterloo West on Tuesday night.

Cal Burke made his National Hockey League debut last week with the Colorado Avalanche. As a member of the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders in the 2014-15 season, he played on a forward line with Ross Colton and Adam Gaudette. All three can say they made it to The Show.

Despite a number of players getting late starts to the season because they played on a football team that won a state championship, Cedar Rapids Xavier’s boys’ basketball team is off to a hot 4-0 start after Friday night’s 63-50 win over Linn-Mar.

Linn-Mar’s girls’ basketball team held Cedar Rapids Xavier to four points in the third quarter to build a double-digit lead it used to pick up a 57-45 win Friday night. Linn-Mar is ranked 15th in Class 5A, Xavier No. 1 in 4A.

Dyersville Beckman senior Padraig Gallagher was displeased with a “mere” 14-point effort Monday night against North Linn. The 6-foot-5 Northwest Missouri State recruit followed with 30 points the next night in a win and is one of the top players in the area.