Washington Boys Basketball

Warriors finish winless regular season

WATERLOO -Cybryan Moa and Brock Butterfield combined for 24 points Thursday, but Washington completed a winless regular season with a 62-46 loss to Waterloo West in a Mississippi Valley Conference boys basketball game at West.

Moa scored 13 points and Butterfield 11 for Washington (0-20, 0-16).

West (10-10, 7-9) was led Malik Green and Carderius Smith, who had 15 points apiece.

Washington trailed 17-16 after the first quarter, but was outscored 30-15 over the middle two quarters.

Washington opens Class 4A substate play Monday at Xavier. West hosts Waterloo East on Monday.

WASHINGTON (46): David Tann 1 0-2 2, Brock Butterfield 3 3-4 11, Cybryan Moa 4 2-4 13, Peter Holmes 1 0-0 2, David Rosenthal 2 0-0 4, Logan Schulte 1 0-0 2, Jason Oney 1 0-0 2, Heath Clark 1 0-0 3, Sean Bredl 2 0-0 4, Paul Nash 1 1-2 3. Totals 17 6-12 46.

WATERLOO WEST (62): DaQuan Moore 1 4-4 6, Malik Green 6 2-3 15, DiMarco Mallett 5 1-2 11, Carderius Smith 6 3-4 15, Alex Young 1 0-0 2, Dale Jones 4 0-0 9, Tre Johnson 0 2-2 2, Xavier Hightower 1 0-0 2. Totals 24 12-15 62.

Halftime - Waterloo West 35, Washington 25. 3-point goals - Waterloo West 2 (Green 1, Jones 1), Washington 6 (Butterfield 2, Moa 3, Clark 1). Total fouls - Waterloo West 12, Washington 14. Fouled out - None.

Big quarter not enough for Warriors

Eight great minutes aren’t enough when the games last 32.

Washington had one of its best quarters of the year but still fell to Dubuque Senior, 62-34, Tuesday night in a Mississippi Valley Conference boys basketball game at Washington.

"Scoring for four quarters is tough for us,” Washington Coach Brad Metzger said.

Washington (0-19, 0-15) came out of halftime trailing 10th-ranked Dubuque Senior by 20, nothing unusual for this year's Warriors.

But the third quarter was extraordinary for the Warriors considering they haven’t won a game and were facing a very tall, talented foe in the Rams (16-4, 11-4).

The Warriors went on a 12-0 run to start the half to cut the deficit to single digits.

“We wanted to get one stop at a time,” Metzger said. “With the stops we were able to rattle off 12 straight.”

Washington continued to shut down the Rams' offense even after a Senior timeout tried to settle the Rams. The Warriors held Senior to just 2 of 11 shooting as they outscored them 19-4 to close the gap to five.  Paul Nash led the Warrior offense with seven points in the third quarter while Brock Butterfield chipped in six of his team-high nine in the period.

“We crashed the boards and moved the ball better,” Metzger said. “We worked together more on offense.”

The third quarter ended and the old Warriors and their offensive struggles reappeared.

Washington managed just seven points and was outscored 30-7 in the final eight minutes.

“They (the guys on the court) were getting stops (in the third). I didn’t want to sub. I haven’t seen us battle with a top 10 team like that,” Metzger said. “The guys got tired and we missed some shots.”

The Rams went 9 of 12 as the Warriors' defense stumbled and lost control of the game.

Early the Warriors hung around as the defense battled with the Senior big guys to keep the game within six after the first quarter.

The Warriors faced the season long problem of giving up big runs and being unable to find the bucket in the second quarter when Senior went on a 15-1 run.

Washington went in to the break trailing the Rams 28-8.

Josh Weeber paced the Rams with 23 points.

Washington gets a final shot at a regular season win Thursday at Waterloo West.

DUBUQUE SENIOR (62): Domen Zevnik 2 4-6 8, Kyle Haber 3 3-4 9, Josh Weeber 8 5-5 23, Conner Grant 2 1-2 5, Seth Bonifas 3 0-0 6, Kyle Holdridge 1 2-2 5, Mitch Duve 0 0-0 0, Drew Anderson 1 1-2 4, Jon Powers 0 0-0 0, Lucas Legrand 1 0-0 2, Parker Hammel 0 0-0 0, Austin Clemons 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 16-21 62.

WASHINGTON (34): David Tann 2 1-2 5, Cybryan Moa 3 0-1 6, Sean Bredl 2 2-4 6, Paul Nash 3 0-0 7, Zachary Williams 0 0-0 0, Logan Schulte 0 1-2 1, Brock Butterfield 3 2-3 9, Peter Holmes 0 0-0 0, Jason Oney 0 0-0 0, Austin Bergstrom 0 0-0 0, Lucas Pint 0 0-0 0, Noah Burdt 0 0-0 0, Greg Gruenwald 0 0-0 0, Heath Clark 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 6-12 34.

Halftime – Senior 28 Washington 8. 3-point goals – Senior 4 (Weeber 2, Holdridge, Anderson) Washington 2 (Nash, Butterfield). Total Fouls – Senior 16 Washington 17. Technical Fouls – Washington Bench, Zevnik.

Lions escape spirited Warriors, 62-56

Cedar Rapids Washington junior guard Brock Butterfield will have something to tell his children and grandchildren some day. He picked the pocket of a McDonald’s All-American.

Searching for their first win of the year, Butterfield and his Warrior teammates gave an impressive effort against No. 8 Linn-Mar before bowing, 62-56, Friday night at Washington.

The Warrior crowd roared in delight when Marcus Paige, a McDonald’s All-American selection, was stripped cleanly by Butterfield at midcourt in the second quarter. Paige fell to the ground as Butterfield scored an uncontested layup.

The play was a momentum-changer and confidence-builder and helped the upset-minded Warriors keep things close. The hosts outscored Linn-Mar 24-14 in the fourth quarter and came back from as many as 16 points down to make things interesting.

“I just kind of noticed that he wasn’t looking up the court,” Butterfield said of Paige. “One defender was coming and I went to jump him and reached in and got it.”

Butterfield said he didn’t think the steal will show up on YouTube. “He’s one of the best players I have ever played against,” Butterfield said.

Despite the miscue, Paige proved why he is one of the nation’s best with an array of silky-smooth moves and pull-up jumpers. He finished with 20 points, five steals and three assists on 8-of-19 shooting. He praised the scrappy Warriors.

“We kind of took them for granted and that got in our heads a bit,” Paige said. “They came out and had a great game plan and played hard, really fought the whole game. We just had a couple of possessions where we were able to convert at the end.”

Paige chuckled when asked if he will get a lifetime supply of Big Mac hamburgers as a McDonald’s All-American.

“I need a couple of Big Macs to beef up a bit,” he joked. “It really means a lot to me to have the opportunity to play in the McDonald’s game.”

Paige said he had two big personal goals this season: To play in the McDonald’s All-American Game and The Jordan Brand Classic, the two most prestigious all-star events for the nation’s best high school players. He’s accepted invitations to both.

“A couple of my individual goals at the beginning of the year were to get to go to those games, so to see that come full circle and actually happen is a great feeling,” he said.

The Jordan Brand Classic selections were announced a week ago. The game will be played April 14 in Charlotte, N.C. The McDonald’s Game will take place on March 28 at Chicago’s United Center. Both games will be carried by ESPN.

“A lot of those guys who will be in the games with me I became good friends with over the summer, so I am looking forward to playing with them again,” Paige said.

It isn’t lost on Paige that some of the greatest names in basketball history have played in the McDonald’s game, including Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal, LeBron James and Dwight Howard, among others.

“It feels great,” he said of playing in a prestigious event that has featured NCAA, NBA and Olympic stars. “I have worked hard. I had a really good summer with my AAU team. I’m having a pretty good senior year and to be able to cap it off to get to go to a couple of those all-star games really means a lot to me and I am glad I have that opportunity.”

Paige is the first Cedar Rapidian since Kennedy’s Al Lorenzen in 1984 to be named a McDonald’s All-American and only the fifth male in state history, joining Harrison Barnes, Nick Collison, Raef LaFrentz and Lorezen.

Paige, who leads Class 4A in scoring at 26.8 points per game, said he was staying focused on the upcoming postseason tournament.

“I am not thinking too far ahead,” he said. “We still have some work to do this season.”

Washington Coach Brad Metzger called Paige one of the best he has ever seen.

“Being in Indiana we saw Greg Odom and Zach Randolph, guys that are in the NBA,” he said. “Marcus is probably on that path as well. He’s about as smooth a player as I have seen.

“He can just score in bunches. He makes getting 30 (points) seem like it’s 10. It is so hard to contain him. Definitely, he’s got an incredible future ahead,” Metzger said.

“He’s up there. I can only mention NBA guys and he is right there with the best I have seen. If there is an elite category, he is in it.”

Surprisingly, Paige wasn’t even the high scorer Friday night. Washington center Sean Bredl played the best game of his life with a career-high 24-points on 8-of-13 shooting. He also had six rebounds.

Butterfield had nine points, five rebounds and three steals. David Tann added eight points, five assists and five boards for the Warriors.

Matt Lassen hit two 3-pointers and had eight points for Linn-Mar. Jimmy Roth added eight points and seven rebounds, while 6-foot-8 center Derik Gogg had eight points and eight boards.

Linn-Mar had just one more field goal than Washington. The Warriors (0-18, 0-14) shot 44 percent from the floor, while the Lions netted 49 percent.

Metzger said, “I think if we can keep up that effort and show character at this point in the year, that is the biggest thing for us. It is easy to get your head down in the position we are in.

"I think it is a real character check for all of us to keep trying, keep doing the best we can, and show a lot of character out there and show some heart no matter the situation.”

Linn-Mar boss Chris Robertson took his hat off to the Warriors.

“They have played us tough twice,” he said. “I give them a lot of credit. For a team that doesn’t have any wins, they have a lot of heart. They play hard.

"I hope they get a win. They play this hard this late in the season, they deserve a win. I thought it was going to happen tonight for awhile.”

Robertson is hesitant to call Paige the best he’s ever coached.

“That is hard because I don’t want to take anything away from some of the other guys because obviously I have been fortunate to coach a lot of really great players,” he said. “But he is certainly right up there at the top.”

Linn-Mar led 23-20 at the half and 48-32 after three quarters, but Robertson was not happy about his team’s performance.

“I am glad it is over,” he said. “We weren’t very good. We weren’t very sharp on either end of the floor. I told the guys at halftime that we got outplayed and I think we got outplayed in the second half, too.

“We got up, but we didn’t put them away. It was disappointing. Coming off a big win against Dubuque Senior and having a chance to go out and win a conference championship, our guys weren’t very good tonight. So, I hope we learn a lesson and come out ready to play Tuesday.”

Linn-Mar (15-4, 11-3) has a one-game lead over Dubuque Senior in the Mississippi Division of the MVC with two games left. Senior was beaten by Wahlert, 55-52, Friday night.

The Lions host Jefferson on Tuesday, while Washington hosts Senior.

LINN-MAR (62): Zach Martins 0 2-2 2, Matt Lassen 2 2-4 8, Marcus Paige 8 3-3 20, Jimmy Roth 2 3-5 8, Matt Meier 0 3-4 3, Andy Henry 4 0-0 8, Jon Schlotterback 2 1-2 5, Derik Gogg 4 0-1 8. Totals 22 14-21 62.

WASHINGTON (56): David Tann 4 0-0 8, Brock Butterfield 3 1-3 9, Cybryan Moa 1 0-0 2, Peter Holmes 3 1-1 7, Jason Oney 2 1-3 6, Sean Bredl 8 8-9 24. Totals 21 11-16 56.

Halftime – Linn-Mar 23 Washington 20, 3-point goals – Linn-Mar 4 (Lassen 2, Paige 1, Roth 1). Washington 3 (Butterfield 2, Oney 1).

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No. 3 Tigers tame Warriors, 74-47

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.