Metro Sports Report

Big crowd sees Riders win again

The Cedar Rapids RoughRiders spotted Green Bay a 1-0 lead in the second period Saturday night before storming back for a 4-1 victory before 3,842 fans in a USHL game at the Ice Arena.

Cal Burke, Mitch Reinke, Jiri Fronk and Ross Colton scored four unanswered goals as the RoughRiders raised their record to 26-8-0 for 52 points. Cedar Rapids has a nine-point lead over Muskegon for first place in the Eastern Conference.

Adam Gaudette collected two assists for the RoughRiders. Burke had a goal and an assist.

Ryan Larkin made 19 saves for Cedar Rapids. Green Bay fell to 13-17-4 for 30 points.

Green Bay    0  1  0 - 1
RoughRiders  0  2  2 - 4

GB - Marc Michaelis (power play) (Vili Saarijarvi, Christopher Brown)
RR - Cal Burke (Adam Gaudette)
RR - Mitch Reinke (Andrew Gaus)
RR - Jiri Fronk (Hugh McGing, Andrew Oglevie)
RR - Ross Colton (Cal Burke, Adam Gaudette)

Lions trimmed by No. 1 Trojans

The Linn-Mar Lions came into Friday night's showdown with top-ranked Iowa City West intent on winning.

"We didn't show up just to play them close," said Coach Chris Robertson. "Our mindset was to win the game."

They nearly pulled it off and may have got the job done had it not been for the play of West junior Alex Henderson.

The pesky guard came off the bench to hit all six of his field-goal attempts. He finished with 15 points as the Trojans closed the game on an 8-3 run to escape with a 61-56 win over the No. 8 Lions before an enthusiastic crowd in the Linn-Mar gym.

Robertson said Henderson was on the Lions' scouting report.

Arrington's dunk helps Wash top Hawks

Maurice Arrington picked a great time to get the first dunk of his high school basketball career.

It helped Washington win a ballgame.

Arrington collected a thunderous dunk on a sweet feed from Keion Wills with 69 seconds left Friday night to help the Warriors trim Prairie, 61-56, in a Mississippi Valley Conference game at Prairie.

Washington was clinging to a precarious 54-51 lead when Wills began the big play by driving down the lane.

"It was late in the game and I just wanted to make a play," said Wills. "I made a move and my big guy took it to the rim and the crowd went crazy."

No. 5 Lions clipped by No. 4 West

IOWA CITY – Even in defeat, Linn-Mar girls basketball coach Jaime Brandt learned something positive about her team Friday.

It doesn’t quit.

The fifth-ranked Lions fell to fourth-ranked Iowa City West, 51-42, in a Mississippi Valley Conference game that was on the verge of becoming a rout early in the third quarter.

West scored the first six points after halftime, expanding its lead to 45-28 less than two minutes into the third quarter. The visiting Lions then trimmed the deficit to nine points on three occasions, but could get no closer while falling to 10-2 on the season.

“I told them we could have very easily let this one go and get blown out by 25,” said Brandt, a former standout guard for Linn-Mar and the University of Iowa. “We were down by 17 I think in the (third) and lost by single digits.