CEDAR FALLS - Cedar Falls handled Cedar Rapids Washington the way the state's third-ranked team should handle a winless opponent.

It wasn't always easy, but once the Tigers got down to business, they rolled to a 74-47 victory over the Warriors Tuesday night.

Coach Tom Bardal didn't necessarily buy into the notion that the combination of senior night and a struggling Wash team made preparation for the game tough.

"As a coach you try to prepare your team to play every night," he said. "We are in such a good conference that if you're not ready to play, you get beat."

Bardal also said, "I thought it took us a while to get going."

The Tigers (16-2, 11-2) started an all-senior lineup and then quickly went to their regular rotation. Meanwhile, Washington (0-17, 0-13) stayed with Cedar Falls early and trailed by just 17-16 after eight minutes.

Then the Tigers left the Warriors in the rearview mirrors. Two of those seniors, James Harrington and Caleb Konieczny, sparked a 9-0 run to begin the second quarter. That put Cedar Falls on top, 26-16, and the lead never dwindled below double figures after that.

Cedar Falls' mix of pressure defenses and some razor-sharp interior passing helped break the game open. Over the second and third quarters, the Tigers hit 16 of 24 shots, good for 67 percent. Wash, by contrast turned the ball over 10 times and made just seven baskets in the middle periods.

"I thought our defense picked up toward the end of the second quarter and was pretty good in the third quarter," said Bardal. "Our defense led to easy baskets and as you get easy baskets you build confidence. That helped us tonight."

The Tigers, who have won 13 straight games, led by as many as 34 points in the fourth quarter before Bardal emptied his bench.

And that gave a senior named George Ahrenholz another opportunity. Ahrenholz, described by a grinning Bardal as a "manager slash coach," has suited up for Cedar Falls' last two games. Late in the fourth quarter, he hit a 3-point shot and got a standing ovation from the home crowd.

"He's a kid who does everything we ask him to do," said Bardal. "We thought that toward the end of the season, because of him being a senior and all the hard work and dedication, we'd give him an opportunity to play a few games. I'm thrilled to death for him and his family."

And, as the regular season approaches the end, Bardal is balancing rest with preparation for Class 4A substate action.

"We're making progress," he said. "I'd like to see our intensity pick up a notch, but it's tough at times to play three games in a week and we've had to do that four times the last five weeks. So we're careful with practice, going about an hour a day, and we're taking some days off."

C.R. WASHINGTON (47): David Tann 2-6 1-3 6, Brock Butterfield 2-7 3-4 7, Cybryan Moa 1-6 0-0 3, Peter Holmes 2-5 2-2 6, Sean Bredl 3-6 0-0 6, David Rosenthal 2-3 1-2 5, Austin Bergstrom 1-1 0-0 3, Jason Oney 1-3 0-0 2, Paul Nash 0-2 0-0 0, Logan Schulte 1-4 0-0 2, Heath Clark 0-1 0-0 0, Zachary Williams 1-1 0-0 2, Noah Burdt 0-0 0-0 0, Lucas Pint 1-1 0-0 2, Sam Bil 1-2 0-0 3. Totals 18-48 7-11 47.

CEDAR FALLS (74): James Harrington 5-11 3-4 13, Caleb Konieczny 4-10 2-2 13, Grant Grainger 1-1 1-4 3, George Ahrenholz 1-4 0-0 3, Tony Johnson 4-6 0-0 9, Kalund Brown 3-4 0-0 6, Isaac Boettger 4-6 3-6 11, Kalehl Brown 6-7 0-2 13, Nick Clark 0-2 0-0 0, Brandon Bardal 1-2 0-0 3, Kevin Bernard 0-0 0-0 0, Jackson Nichols 0-1 0-0 0, Riley Gardner 0-0 0-0 0 Zach Harvey 0-0 0-0 0, Kasey Jackson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-54 9-21 75.

Halftime - Cedar Falls 39, Washington 23. 3-point goals - Cedar Falls 7 (Konieczny 3, Ahrenholz 1, Johnson 1, Kalehl Brown 1, Bardal 1), Washington 4 (Tann 1, Moa 1, Bergstrom 1, Bil 1). Total fouls - Washington 20, Cedar Falls 13. Fouled out - Tann.