The Wizard of Ozzie: Meiborg’s huge first quarter jets Cedar Rapids Jefferson past Washington

CEDAR RAPIDS — He was great the first game, not so great the second, and great again Friday night.

You wonder what Cedar Rapids Jefferson's fourth game next week might hold for Ozzie Meiborg. So does he.

'Hopefully it'll be a lot like this,' the senior guard said, after his J-Hawks beat Cedar Rapids Washington 78-59 at Wash. 'That's what I'm hoping for.'

Meiborg absolutely went off in the first quarter as Jefferson (2-1) rolled to a big lead it would never relinquish. Never come close to relinquishing.

He had 16 points as Jeff took a 21-6 edge. He was hitting the 3, driving to the hoop, doing everything. Even the shots he missed were right on, either just a hair long of a hair short.

'It's what you want,' Meiborg said, when asked what it feels like when shots are dropping. 'Being a basketball player, when you're just hitting everything, it just makes everything so much easier. Gets you big leads, you get to settle in. It makes it very easy to settle into a game. Then you see when I get going early, it opens up things for everyone else.'

Meiborg, a three-year starter committed to Iowa Lakes Community College, had 30 points in Jefferson's season-opening win against Clinton. In a loss to Davenport North, he had just eight.

It was a dirty 30 again here.

'Ozzie was Ozzie,' said first-year Jefferson Coach Chris Fechner. 'Our guys feed off that. I give our team credit, because sometimes teams can just start standing around and watching what they're doing, maybe go into a funk of 'Hey, I'm not getting my touches.' This group isn't that way. They realize that when he gets hot, let's feed him.'

It wasn't just Meiborg for the J-Hawks. Forward Raejzuan Shockley added 14 points, including a rim-rattling one-handed dunk on a drive.

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Sophomore Andreas Williams had 12 points and nine rebounds off the bench, doing a lot of his damage in the second half. Jefferson had a 28-point halftime lead (48-20) which Washington cut into in the second half but not significantly enough.

'The start was what we had to have,' Fechner said. 'We expressed that all week. We had to get off to a good start, we had to take care of the ball, and we had to defend and rebound.'

Undersized Jefferson had 21 first-half rebounds, more than it had the entire game against Davenport North. Waashington (1-1) got 19 points from forward Quincy Underwood, 17 of which came in the second half.

The Warriors made a conscious effort to use their height advantage in the final two quarters.

'Sometimes you learn more in a loss than a win,' said Wash Coach Justin Decker. 'I found out a lot about our guys tonight right now, just where we're at, the leadership in the locker room. We can be a very good team. Our starts are killing us. We started out against Bettendorf slow, we started out here slow.'

AT CEDAR RAPIDS WASHINGTON

C.R. JEFFERSON (78): Kenny Moore 0-0 0-0 0, Raejzuan Shockley 5-9 4-6 14, Brayden Kindhart 4-6 1-2 9, Maison Read 3-5 3-3 10, Ozzie Meiborg 12-25 3-5 30, Ayrondus Hodges 1-1 1-2 3, Andreas Williams 5-9 2-4 12, Kaden Haller 0-5 0-1 0, Connor Harms 0-0 0-0 0, Prosper Kapongo 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-60 14-23 78.

C.R. WASHINGTON (59): Quincy Underwood 8-15 2-3 19, Campbell Mitvalsky 5-13 2-2 12, Henry Clymer 3-6 0-2 7, Traijan Sain 1-4 1-1 3, Jamar Thurmon 2-8 4-6 8, Jayden Harris 0-1 2-3 2, Wyatt Cain 0-2 0-0 0, Zaren Ross-Carr 1-1 0-0 2, Jesse Sellers 3-3 0-0 6, Cavan Riley 0-0 0-0 0, Elijah Martin 0-0 0-0 0, DayMarcus Hare 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-53 11-17 59.

Halftime — Jefferson 48, Washington 20. 3-point goals — Shockley 0-1, Kindhart 0-1, Read 1-2, Meiborg 3-10, Williams 0-1, Haller 0-2), Washington 2-12 (Sain 0-2, Underwood 1-3, Clymer 1-3, Thurmon 0-3, Cain 0-1). Rebounds — Jefferson 37 (Williams 9), Washington 32 (Underwood, Mitvalsky 8). Total fouls — Jefferson 14, Washington 17. Fouled out — Sain. Turnovers — Jefferson 10, Washington 16.

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