Metro Sports Report

Washpun, Bohannon shine as UNI stuns No. 1 Heels

CEDAR FALLS - A North Carolina tradition continued here Saturday afternoon.

The Tar Heels have made it a point to schedule road games close to the homes of their senior players.

Coach Roy Williams' tribute to Marcus Paige was a game against the University of Northern Iowa, a school about 60 miles away from Linn-Mar.

The storyline extended to the match-up where Paige would be going up against former teammates from high school and AAU days in UNI's Matt Bohannon and Wes Washpun.

Paige's broken right hand, suffered earlier this month, kept him from playing, but his former teammates not only played, they shined.

Washpun, Paige's AAU teammate, had 21 points and eight assists while Bohannon, who played played three seasons with Paige at Linn-Mar, had 18 as the Panthers upset No. 1 North Carolina, 71-67, at the McLeod Center.

Lilly nears 500 wins as Xavier begins

Every year, the Xavier girls basketball team seems to graduate its leading scorer after another successful campaign. And every year, a new senior seems to step forward and grab the reins.

"I can't remember the last time we had our leading scorer coming back," legendary coach Tom Lilly said Thursday. "It seems like every year our leading scorer or leading rebounder is somebody who puts on the cap and gown. So we take the next kid with the most experience and we flip roles."

The system has worked just fine.

Lilly has captured four state titles at Xavier and begins his 31st year as a head coach in the local Catholic school system with an impressive record of 496-216 overall, including a 308-114 mark in 17 years with the Saints.

He hears rumors about his impending retirement every year, but has no plans to step aside anytime soon.

No. 3 Cougars aim to slay No. 1 Dowling

The Dowling Catholic football team has devoured its last two opponents from Cedar Rapids in the Class 4A finals.

Two years ago, Dowling feasted on the Xavier Saints in the championship game by the lopsided score of 44-13. Last year, the Maroons gobbled up the Washington Warriors for another crown in a 49-14 blowout.

The Kennedy Cougars are not only determined to make it a much closer game this year: They are determined to prevail and snap Dowling's stranglehold on the playoffs.

The third-ranked Cougars (13-0) meet top-ranked Dowling (12-0) in the Class 4A championship game Monday at 7:06 p.m. at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls. The game was postponed from Friday due to a snowstorm that struck Iowa Friday.

The Cougars respect Dowling, but they do not fear the mighty Maroons. "They're just another group of kids wearing different colored jerseys," Kennedy Coach Brian White maintained in the days leading up to the game.

The Cougars are underdogs, but that's OK with them.

Prairie girls look to rebound this season

Josh Bentley was accustomed to success in his previous stops as a head basketball coach, so his initial campaign at Cedar Rapids Prairie last season came as a cold slap in the face.

The Prairie girls lost six games by single digits and finished with a disappointing 4-18 record.

Bentley blames himself as much as anyone.

"It wasn't fun at all," he said Friday. "To be honest, it was a year that humbled me, woke me up, made me reflect on some things that I'd grown accustomed to and I wasn't totally focusing on details. I don't think I did justice to the girls as much as I should have.

"I definitely learned a lot," he said, "and I think that's helped me move forward for this year and hopefully for years in the future. Avoiding another year like that would be great. I don't want to have another one like that ever again."

Neither do his players.