Metro Sports Report

Singleton shines for No. 10 Eagles

Ron Singleton rang in the new year with a healthy new dose of confidence Friday night.

Singleton shot a perfect 8-for-8 from the field and scored a career-high 23 points as the 10th-ranked Kirkwood Eagles strolled by the University of Dubuque junior varsity, 86-40, at Johnson Hall.

Singleton is a strong 6-foot-6, 230-pound forward from Chicago, but he's had problems finishing around the rim and is averaging only five points for the season in 14 games. He showed what he's capable of accomplishing Friday night, however.

Kirkwood Coach Bryan Petersen has kept Singleton in the starting lineup for the most part, knowing he had the potential to do big things.

"My biggest thing with Ron is, we need him," said Petersen. "We need him to produce, we need him to play at a high level for us to achieve our goals.

"He had a tough first semester, and he knows it," said Petersen. "But we stayed with him because we need him and he puts in the time. He did a nice job out there today. I really liked his rebounding more than anything."

Burke lifts RoughRiders in OT

Cedar Rapids forward Cal Burke had a real good feeling when he saw Adam Gaudette pass him the puck in front of the Bloomington goal in overtime Saturday night.

This baby is over!

"There was no way I wasn't scoring that goal," Burke said happily in the noisy RoughRiders locker room after the game. "I really wanted that win."

Burke took a perfect pass from Gaudette and scored with 3 minutes, 14 seconds elapsed in overtime to give Cedar Rapids a 4-3 victory over the Bloomington Thunder before 2,633 fans at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena.

"Just an absolute beautiful pass," said Burke. "He thread the needle. It doesn't get much better than that."

The RoughRiders rallied from 2-0 and 3-2 deficits to get a much-needed victory. Cedar Rapids had lost five of its previous six games and its lead in the Eastern Conference of the USHL was dwindling, but they found a way to get it done.

Dyrland is 'The Voice of J-Hawks'

Although he’s been the announcer at Jefferson High School sporting events for two decades, it wasn’t until a couple of years ago that David Dyrland was first called by the title that suits him so well.

“I was at a Hawkeye basketball game and saw (former Jeff star) Jarrod Uthoff before the game,” recalls Dyrland, 64, a retired Cedar Rapids electrician with 40 years in the trade. “I said, ‘Remember me?’ And he said, ‘You’re The Voice of the J-Hawks.’ And that really pleased me.”

He’s much more than the anonymous guy that reads the starting lineup, though. Before nearly every Jeff home game – basketball, baseball and sometimes football – he also sings the National Anthem.

And while untrained as a singer but with a lifetime of experience, he sings it with such gusto that it’s a crowd-pleaser every time.

Hembera tops state in scoring, rebounding

It was commonly assumed that Shelby Hembera's scoring average would dip a little this season now that Cedar Valley Christian has a much stronger basketball team, but that has not been the case so far.

Hembera's scoring average has actually climbed from 33.2 points last year to 34.0 this season through eight games.

Hembera's rebounding average has dropped from 16.4 per game last season to 14.6, but she still leads the state in scoring and rebounding by comfortable margins in both departments. She led the state in scoring and rebounding as a junior last year as well.

The big change at Cedar Valley Christian this season has been in the won/loss column. The Huskies have a 6-2 record heading into the new year after finishing with a 1-21 mark last season.

Hembera obviously leads all Metro players in scoring with her 34.0 average. Amanda Ollinger, who is the process of transferring from Jefferson to Linn-Mar, ranks second among Metro players at 17.8 points per game. Ollinger also ranks second in Metro rebounding at 11.8 per game.

Olivia Usher of Prairie leads Metro girls basketball players in assists (37) and Sydney Hayden of Kennedy is tops in 3-pointers (20).

In Metro boys basketball, there is a tight race in the scoring derby among four players heading into the new year. Nic Uhlir of Linn-Mar has a slight lead at 17.3 points per game, followed by Craig Engle of Marion (17.0), Adam McDermott of Xavier (17.0) and Jordan Bohannon of Linn-Mar (16.7).

Keegan Moore of Washington has the Metro rebounding lead at 9.2 per game. Engle leads in assists (26) and 3-pointers (18).