Prairie Boys Basketball

Hawks can't handle Uthoff, J-Hawks

Jarrod Uthoff scored 25 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and blocked five shots to lead No. 10 Jefferson past stubborn Prarie, 50-41, Thursday night in the J-Hawks' regular season finale at Prairie.

The final score was much closer than anticipated, although the J-Hawks (15-5, 11-5 MVC) were coming into the game off a hard-fought loss to No. 1 Linn-Mar on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Prairie was trying to end a 10-game losing streak.  The Hawks (3-17, 2-13) get another chance to snap the skid Friday night when they host Dubuque Hempstead in a makeup game to end the regular season.

Despite not scoring until the 4:20 mark of the first quarter, Prairie hung tough with Jefferson in the first half. The first quarter ended with Jefferson holding an 8-6 lead and the J-Hawks' margin was 23-17 at halftime.

Uthoff, the state's leading scorer with a 26 point average, was held scoreless in the opening frame, attempting but one shot. 

Talking about the way they came out, Prairie junior Jacob Aune said, “We definitely executed our game plan. We knew Jarrod was going to get his points. What we didn’t execute on were the turnovers towards the end of the game. The goal is to value every possession and make every possession count.”

Uthoff scored 10 points in the second quarter.

“We started to pound the ball inside with the height advantage. We ran more of our sets to look inside” said Uthoff.

Jefferson pounded the ball to Uthoff to start the second half, building a 29-17 lead. Even though he was being double- and triple-teamed, Uthoff was still able to battle for 11 points in the third quarter.

Prairie was able to connect from the outside to keep the game close, but in the end Jefferson was able to control the ball to hold on for the win.

Alec Saunders added 10 points for Jefferson and sophomore Ky Kramer had seven. Junior point guard Taylor Olson added four assists and appears to be regaining his strength and high level of play that he exhibited prior to a back injury that sidelined him for several weeks.

Aune led Prairie with 13 points. The Hawks’ leading scorer, Matt MacDougall, was held to two points. 

Jefferson has a week off before it plays either Western Dubuque or Waterloo East in a substate semifinal. Those two play Monday at Epworth. Jefferson's game is Feb. 25 at 7 p.m.

When asked about his team’s performance against Prairie and the tournament matchup next week Jefferson Coach Stu Ordman commented, “I think the game Tuesday drained us emotionally some, but we were able to put together several good possessions in the third quarter and come together offensively and defensively to set the tone for the rest of the game. We’ll get back to the fundamentals and hopefully have everyone up to full speed.”

Prairie plays its first round substate game Monday night at Waterloo West. The teams played back on Dec. 14 and West won, 85-58. The winner of that game plays at No. 8 Cedar Falls on Feb. 25.

When asked about their one remaining MVC game and postseason matchup Aune commented, “We definitely want to get a win (tomorrow) and get some momentum going into Saturday and Sunday’s practice to get us ready for Waterloo West.”

JEFFERSON (50): Olson 1 1-2 3, Meiborg 0 1-2 1, Kramer 3 0-0 7, Saunders, Uthoff 9 7-11 25, Robinson 0 0-0 0, Hemphill 1 0-1 2, Denny 1 0-0 2, Larson 0 0-0 0, Rooney 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 11-19 50.

PRAIRIE (41): Eilers 0 0-0 0, Bradford 1 0-0 3, Boots 0 4-4 4, Hilgenkamp 1 0-0 0, Lafferty 1 2-2 4, Jantzen 2 0-0 5, Adams 0 0-0 0, Aune 5 2-2 13, Kehoe 1 0-1 3, Frazier 1 0-0 2, Mougin 1 0-0 0, MacDougall 1 0-0 2, Bradford 1 0-0 3. Totals 14 8-9 41.

Halftime—Jefferson 23. Prairie 17. 3-point goals—Jefferson 1 (Kramer), Prairie 5 (Bradford, Hilgenkamp, Jantzen, Aune, Kehoe).

Cedar Falls races past Hawks

CEDAR FALLS -- No. 8 Cedar Falls built a 20-point lead by halftime and cruised past Prairie, 67-37, Tuesday night in a Mississippi Valley Conference boys basketball game.

James Harrington scored 20 points to lead Cedar Falls (15-4, 13-2 MVC). The Tigers clinched the MVC Valley Division title.

Jacob Aune and Brandon Lafferty had 11 points apiece for Prairie (3-16, 2-12).

Cedar Falls hosts No. 7 Kennedy Thursday.  Prairie hosts No. 10 Jefferson Thursday and unranked Hempstead Friday.

PRAIRIE (37): Aune 5 1-2 11, Frazier 1 0-0 2, Kehoe 1 0-0 2, Jantzen 0 2-2 2, Lafferty 4 3-6 11, MacDougall 2 0-0 5, Boots 1 0-0 2, Rasmussen 0 2-2 2. Totals 14 8-12 37.

CEDAR FALLS (67): Harrington 7 6-6 20, Newton 1 1-2 3, Konieczny 3 0-0 8, Debuhr 0 1-3 1, Brown 2 1-2 5, Brummel 2 0-0 4, Clark 2 2-3 6, Klinehart 3 0-1 6, Allender 1 1-2 3, Wolf 3 0-0 6, Johnson 1 2-2 4, Bardal 0 1-2 1. Totals 25 14-23 67.

Halftime -- Cedar Falls 40, Prairie 20. 3-point goals -- Prairie 1 (MacDougall), Cedar Falls 2 (Konieczny 2).

Prairie boys' comeback falls short against Xavier

The first half was run and gun and the second half was much more methodical, but the result was a 56-51 Xavier victory  in Mississippi Valley Conference boys basketball at Prairie Friday night. 

Both teams were putting up points in the first half.  It was 19-19 at the quarter and Xavier led 35-29 at the half, forging their margin in the last two minutes of the half.  In the second half defense improved and the pace slowed and while Prairie actually outscored Xavier, it wasn’t by enough.

“Prairie really made it hard on us in the second half.  We really struggled to maintain our lead; we just had to weather the storm,” said Xavier Coach Matt Jenkins.

That was the case as Prairie (3-15, 2-11 MVC) managed to cut the lead to 48-46 at one point in the fourth quarter. Down the stretch, Xavier (5-14, 4-10) maintained its composure in a loud road environment and the Hawks missed four critical free throws that cooled their comeback effort.

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Hawks' rallies can't overcome Wahlert

Dubuque Wahlert withstood a couple of strong third-quarter surges from Prairie Tuesday night to hold on for a 65-53 victory in a Mississippi Valley Conference boys basketball game at Prairie.

Trailing 40-30 at halftime, the Hawks used good, aggressive defense and managed to cut the lead to three points in a well-played third quarter. However, a balanced attack by Wahlert was more than Prairie (3-14, 2-10) could overcome.

Jacob May and Jonathan Moore both scored 13 points to lead Wahlert (13-5, 9-4). Dubuque’s inside game saw Michael Francis score 11 points and Riley DeSanti contribute 10.

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