Plays down the stretch give Cedar Rapids Prairie boys basketball team a 74-69 win at Cedar Rapids Xavier

CEDAR RAPIDS - Let’s just cut to the chase and say this.

You don’t have to squint to see Cedar Rapids Prairie and Cedar Rapids Xavier qualifying for the boys state basketball tournament.

These teams played a beauty of a late regular-season game Tuesday night at Xavier’s Ron Thillen Gymnasium in which Class 4A seventh-ranked Prairie made some defensive plays down the stretch to pick up a fun 74-69 victory.

David Fason’s drive and and-one gave with 1:23 left gave Prairie (16-4) the lead for what turned out to be good. Fason then picked up a steal off the inbounds pass from Xavier and fed Tae Alexander for the flush and a 69-66 lead.

Just guys making plays.

“I mean, we've grown a long way, like mentally, since the start of the season,” said Fason. “I'll say that's where we grew the biggest part, everyone just realizing it's not all about them, not all about the games they score. Just wanting to go out and win every night for each other, moving the ball around. We got a good team if we move the ball around, so we just got to believe in each other.”

Prairie secured a top seed in its 4A substate, which means home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. Coach Todd Kuntz was asked postgame was he wanted to see from his guys this final week of the regular season.

Prairie hosts fifth-ranked Dubuque Senior on Thursday night.

“I think with the state tournament, we want to keep fighting next week and for us just keep trying to climb our way up in the seedings,” Kuntz said. “It’s a great challenge. These are the games we want to play this time of year.”

Xavier dropped to 12-8 with this tough loss but these Saints will be more than a handful in the postseason. Xavier is a ‘2’ seed in a Class 3A substate in which Dubuque Wahlert is a ‘1.’

Xavier won the regular-season game between the teams, and Wahlert has a significant player who apparently is out for the rest of the season. Guard Zander Murray went off for 26 points in this game, his baseline jumper with 1:45 left giving the Saints a 66-64 lead.

Then Fason took over.

“Yeah, I mean, we were right there,” said Xavier Coach Mike Freeman. “Kind of the things that have plagued us all season, where, you know those little details is what got us in the end. We talked as coaches about that kind of effort. There's not many teams in 3A that are going to be as good as Prairie. We just went toe to toe.”

Prairie took a seven-point lead early in the third quarter on a Will Wehr corner trey. He finished with 19 points, all in the second half.

Xavier didn’t crumble, hanging around and hanging around. A Murray 3 tied it at 61 with 3:42 to go, a big Lorenzo Pino trey with about two minutes left tied it at 64, then Murray baseline J put the Saints ahead.

Pino finished with 15 points and center A.J. Evans 14 for Xavier. Wehr was complemented by Cayden Larson with 15, Ayden Meier with 13 off the bench.

“Now we are just clicking and have chemistry, and it starts a practice honestly, right now,” Fason said. “We run if we're not all talking during every drill, so it's just all it's just training us. We're in those big moments that we just step up. And that's a challenge.”

“We made some mistakes all around, free throws, walkouts, taking care of the ball, finding open guys,” Freeman said. “We win as a team, we lose as a team. It's not one guy, not one individual, it's all of us. We'll go back. We'll get better from it. You don't have any choice. You’ve got to.”

AT RON THILLEN GYMNASIUM

CEDAR RAPIDS PRAIRIE (74): David Fason 3-6 1-1 8, Cayden Larson 5-12 4-6 15, Will Wehr 6-12 4-4 19, Austin Joens 2-9 0-0 4, Tae Alexander 2-6 0-2 4, Collin McClintock 3-3 0-1 6, Ayden Meier 3-6 4-4 13, Eli Borschel 1-2 0-0 3, Caleb Eckert 0-1 0-0 0, Jayden Stumpff 1-2 0-1 2. Totals 26-59 13-19 74.

CEDAR RAPIDS XAVIER (69): Sam Leuck 2-6 0-0 5, A.J. Evans 5-10 4-4 14, Owen Hlubek 0-0 0-0 0, Mac Driscoll 1-3 0-0 2, Lorenzo Pino 6-8 0-0 15, Zander Murray 10-19 2-2 26, Andrew Allen 0-2 0-0 0, Caleb Loffswold 0-1 0-0 0, Brady O’Donnell 1-4 0-0 2, Carter Hoffmann 2-3 1-2 5. Totals 27-56 7-8 69.

Halftime - Prairie 36, Xavier 36. 3-point goals - Prairie 9-27 (Fason 1-4, Larson 1-4, Wehr 3-5, Joens 0-7, Meier 3-5, Borschel 1-1, Stumpff 0-1), Xavier 8-27 (Leuck 1-4, Driscoll 0-, Pino 3-4, Murray 4-11, Allen 0-2, Loffswold 0-1, O’Donnell 0-3). Rebounds - Prairie 30 (Larson 10), Xavier 32 (Evans 7). Total fouls - Prairie 10, Xavier 17. Fouled out - None. Turnovers - Prairie 8, Xavier 11.

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