Cedar Rapids Prairie battled Iowa City West back and forth at Prairie on Friday night in Mississippi Valley action. But in the end West’s press caused some costly turnovers and it controlled the boards in the decisive fourth quarter to come out with a 55-47 victory. 

The Hawks trailed at the quarter 10-9 but held the Trojans scoreless for four minutes of the period playing a zone that seemed to confuse West.

Prairie led at the half, 22-21.  Prairie jumped out to a nine-point lead at one point in the third quarter, but West clawed right back. The West press gave it the push to outscore Prairie 20-11 in the final quarter.

“Defense kept us in the game,” said Prairie Coach James Moses.  “We needed to take better care of the ball
and play more consistently, especially when we are ahead."

Moses cited Matt MacDougall and Brandon Lafferty for playing more “aggressively.”  “That is necessary for us to be successful,”  Moses said.

Moses also singled out Jacob Aune, saying, “He may be our most consistent player all year.”

Aune led Prairie (3-9,2-6) in scoring with 14 points and MacDougall added 13.  In the second half, Aune was successful at
taking the ball to the basket.

“They gave me a lot of baseline.  They came up on me hard and lunged a  lot and that gave me the opportunity to drive,” Aune said.

West High was led in scoring by Dondre Alexander with 13 and Jacob Gylten with 13.

Prairie has a quick turnaround, as it plays at Mount Vernon on Saturday night and travels to Kennedy on Tuesday.

 IOWA CITY WEST (55):  Alexander 5 1-3 13, Morgan 2 4-4 9, Lohaus 0 0-2 0, Gylten 6 0-0 12, Ukah 1 0-0 2, Franz 2 0-0 6, Staten 0 2-2 2, Seyfer 3 2-2 8, Swank 1 0-2 3.  Totals: 20 9-15 55.

PRAIRIE (47);  Frazier 4 0-0 8, Lafferty 1 4-5 6, MacDougall 6 0-0 13, Boots 0 0-0 0, Eilers 2 0-0 4, Aune 6 2-2 14, Hilgenkamp 0 0-0 0, Kehoe 0 0-0 0, Dellamuth 0 0-0 0, Mougin 0 0-0 0, Rasmussen 0 0-0 0, Schulte 1 0-0 2, Goodale 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 6-7 47.

Halftime -- Prairie 22 Iowa City West 21. 3-point goals -- West 6 (Alexander 2, Franz 2, Morgan, Swank). Prairie 1 (MacDougall).