Xavier Boys Basketball

No. 4 Saints dunk Davenport Assumption

The Xavier Saints poured in 30 points in the first quarter Tuesday night and began the game with a dunk by Ryan Stulken.

Unwilling to rest on their laurels, coach Ryan Luehrsmann designed a special play for Stulken to begin the second half and the 6-foot-7 senior threw down another jam to get the crowd revved up again.

The fourth-ranked Saints cruised to an impressive 78-52 victory over Davenport Assumption and headed into the holiday break with a 5-1 record.

Stulken's slam to begin the game came in transition, but his dunk to start the second half was concocted by Luehrsmann during the 10-minute intermission and took Stulken by surprise.

"He just drew it up at halftime," Stulken said. "We never ran it in practice or anything. That was the first time.

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Techau sparks Saints by J-Hawks

Max Techau scored 23 points to lead the Xavier boys basketball team to a 59-44 win over Jefferson on Friday at Jefferson.

The J-Hawks cut the lead to 37-34 with seven minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, but the Saints answered with a 22-10 run to finish the game.

Blake Whitten had 10 points for Xavier (4-1) and Matt Mims added nine points.

Royshawn Webb scored 10 points to lead Jefferson (2-5).

XAVIER (59): Burger 1 0-0 2, Mims 4 1-1 9, Batkowski 2 2-2 8, Whitten 4 0-0 10, Joens 0 0-0 0, Stulken 2 3-3 7, Schulte 0 0-0 0, Houtakker 0 0-0 0, Techau 9 4-6 23. Totals 22 10-12 59.

JEFFERSON (44): Webb 5 0-0 10, Wiederin 1 0-0 3, Green 3 1-4 7, Kramer 1 0-0 2, Brown 3 3-4 9, Van Oort 3 0-2 7, Szabo 1 0-0 2, McKinney 2 0-0 4, Larson 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 4-10 44.

Halftime – Xavier 26, Jefferson 23. 3-point goals – Xavier 5 (Batkowski 2, Whitten 2, Techau), Jefferson 2 (Wiederin, Van Oort).

Burger, Techau pace Xavier boys

Mitchell Burger and Max Techau each scored 16 points to lead the Xavier boys basketball team in a 65-55 win over Dubuque Senior on Tuesday at Xavier.

The Rams led 26-24 at halftime and the Saints pulled ahead 46-45 at the end of the third quarter. Xavier pulled away down the stretch with a 19-10 run to win.

Matthew Mims added 14 points for Xavier (3-1) and Jackson Joens scored 10.

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Diggins stars as Cougars top Saints

Derrick Diggins was invited to practice with the Kennedy varsity basketball team last year as a freshman during the holiday break to give the Cougars an extra body for their workouts and drills.

He seized the opportunity, stayed with the varsity the rest of the season and has returned this year as a budding superstar.

Diggins poured in 25 points Friday night with 3-pointers and dazzling drives to the basket as Kennedy topped Xavier, 62-46, in a Mississippi Valley Conference game at Xavier.

Diggins, 15, averaged 5.8 points last season as a ninth grader and he's already averaging a robust 18.7 points this year after three games.

"He had a specatular performance," Xavier coach Ryan Luehrsmann said. "We didn't have an answer for him. We couldn't defend him man-to-man.

"He's got a bright future," Luehrsmann said. "If he keeps working on things, he's going to have a great high school career and he'll be somebody who can play at the next level."

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