Washington holds on to beat Prairie, 48-47

CEDAR RAPIDS - It might not seem like much, but a winning record would mean about everything to these guys.

OK, getting to the state tournament would mean more, obviously, to Cedar Rapids Washington's boys' basketball team. When you've got three-time defending champ Iowa City West in your Class 4A substate, though, you've got to be realistic.

'I think it'd be very important just because of the last few years and how down we've been,” Wash's Jared Printy said, after his Warriors took another step closer to that first goal by hanging on for a 48-47 win Tuesday night over Cedar Rapids Prairie at the Washington gym. 'It'd be a big accomplishent, not only for us, but the school and the program. Just to kind of show that we're on the rise again.”

Washington is back even at 9-9, with three games to play in the regular season. It'll be favored Friday night against one-win Cedar Rapids Jefferson, an underdog next week at Dubuque Wahlert and perhaps a slight underdog in the finale next week against Dubuque Senior.

Double digits wins would be huge for a program that hasn't been above .500 in four years and didn't win a game in the 2011-12 season.

'One of our goals was to get the two seed in our substate, and we got that accomplished,” said Washington Coach Adam Sanchez. 'Right now, we're fighting hard for that two spot on our side of the league. Then the other one was to finish over .500 just because it's been awhile since it's been done.”

'To some people, those might not seem like big goals. But for us, to get the program going in the right direction, you've got to take baby steps.”

Prairie (8-11), which also has improved vastly this season, had a chance to win after rebounding a missed one-and-one free throw with 18.6 seconds left. After a timeout, the Hawks ran a play that saw guard Cal Clark back cut and be wide open underneath the hoop.

But Ben Boldt, with the ball at the elbow and a defender in his face, didn't throw a pass to him. Prairie still got a solid look from Austin Schrader from 3-point land out front, but his shot bounced short off the rim at the buzzer.

'That play had multiple options,” said Prairie Coach Jeremy Rickertsen. '(Clark) was the first one. We executed it well, set that first screen, had that look but missed it. The next cut was kind of there, but we missed that pass. We still got an open look at it. That's what I told them. They executed perfectly there.”

'The big thing was to try and keep your guy in front of you and don't let your guy score,” said Printy. 'We were trying to switch everything. There was a screen and someone got caught up in it. A little lack of communication, and Clark was wide open under the basket. I thank the good lord above that number 30 (Boldt) didn't see him there, and we were able to hold on.”

Prairie opened as much as an 11-point lead in the first half, with Washington rallying to take a 28-27 halftime edge. The Warriors were up by as many as seven points in the fourth quarter, only to have Prairie inch back.

Printy had 16 points to lead Washington, with Keegan Moore adding 12. Max Smith Drahos led Prairie with 10 points.

'They fought to the end, and that's all I can ask,” Rickertsen said.

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AT C.R. WASHINGTON

C.R. PRAIRIE (47): Jalen Rima 0-5 0-0 0, Austin Schrader 2-5 0-0 6, Ben Boldt 3-9 2-2 8, Max Smith Drahos 2-7 6-8 10, Cal Clark 2-8 2-2 8, Austin Fisher 3-6 0-0 8, Bryce Meeker 0-3 1-2 1, Coen Brown 1-3 0-0 3, Mitch Lorenz 1-4 0-0 3, JoJo Simpson 0-5 0-0 0. Totals 14-55 11-14 47.

C.R. WASHINGTON (48): Keegan Moore 6-8 0-2 12, Maurice Arrington 2-6 0-0 4, Jared Printy 7-12 0-0 16, Steven Kramer 2-7 0-0 6, Hunter Strait 0-3 1-2 1, Laveechie Williams 1-3 0-0 2, Drew Hoeger 1-1 0-1 3, Keion Wills 1-3 0-0 2, Noah Dawson 0-1 0-0 0, Trevor Thulin 0-2 0-0 0, Julian Good-Jones 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 21-47 1-5 48.

Halftime - Washington 28, Prairie 27. 3-point goals - Prairie 8-23 (Rima 0-1, Schrader 2-6, Clark 2-7, Fisher 2-4, Brown 1-3, Lorenz 1-3, Simpson 0-2), Washington 5-14 (Moore 0-1, Arrington 0-1, Printy 2-4, Kramer 2-4, Strait 0-2, Hoeger 1-1, Thulin 0-1). Rebounds - Prairie 31 (Boldt 6), Washington 38 (Moore 8). Total fouls - Prairie 10, Washington 13. Fouled out - None. Turnovers - Prairie 6, Washington 14.

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