Metro Sports Report

Tri-City trips RoughRiders, 6-3

Tri-City scored 21 seconds into the game Saturday night at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena and things went downhill for the RoughRiders from there.

Cedar Rapids rallied but lost, 6-3, breaking a seven-game home winning streak.

Tri-City (6-15-2) broke a five-game losing streak and improved to 3-9 playing on the road.

"We needed this win real bad," Tri-City forward Joel L'Esperance said. "We needed these points."

Tri-City didn't look like a team that had dropped 10 of its last 11 when L'Esperance scored the first of his four goals just 21 seconds into the game.

RoughRiders bust out against Gamblers

A rowdy second period couldn't put the RoughRiders off their game, and Cedar Rapids snapped a three-game losing streak on Friday with a 4-3 victory over Green Bay at The Stable.

Cedar Rapids killed five Green Bay (12-6-4) power plays and came up with two clutch goals in the third period to improve to 13-6-1.

The RoughRiders had lost their previous three games, and had scored just one goal combined in their last two contests.

"We just knew we had to keep going, keep plugging away," forward Jason Kalinowski said. "We knew we were playing well. We just had a couple bad bounces; we knew it was going to come with hard work."

City High gives Saints tough lesson

Xavier Coach Tom Lilly likes to play Class 5A Mississippi Valley schools because he thinks it toughens his team up for the Class 4A state tournament.

He got what he wished for Friday night in the Saints' home opener when Class 5A No. 2 Iowa City High came calling and walked away with a 68-49 win over the Class 4A No.3 Saints.

Considering that the Little Hawks (4-0, 2-0 MVC) had beaten their first three foes by an average of 50 points, it might even be said that Xavier (3-1, 1-1) held them in check.

Warriors whacked by Bettendorf, 67-35

Cedar Rapids Washington Coach Adam Sanchez is going to be an expert on the boys basketball ratings by this time next week.

That's unfortunate for him.

Washington opened the season Friday night with a 67-35 loss to Bettendorf, which finished 24-1 last year and played for the Class 4A state title in March.