The Kennedy Cougars celebrated their entry into the basketball rankings this week by collecting their most lopsided victory of the season Tuesday night.

The ninth-ranked Cougars spanked Waterloo East, 73-52, in a Mississippi Valley Conference game at the Kennedy gym.

Kennedy Coach Jon McKowen, in his first year with the Cougars, welcomed this week's spot in the Associated Press poll.

"It's nice, because what you're preaching to the kids about effort and energy every day is starting to pay off. And they like it," he said. "Everybody likes to be recognized."

Kennedy raised its records to 9-2 overall and 6-1 in the MVC with a balanced attack. Drew Heitland led the way with 15 points, A.J. Carter scored 13, Zach Daniels tossed in 11 and Cole Murdock finished with 10 points.

"We're finally getting a little respect, but we can't just expect to beat teams," said Daniels when asked about the new ranking. "We have to come out and play hard all the time."

McKowen liked his team's effort before a small gathering on a cold, snowy night. He wasn't sure how his team would respond after losing a tough game to top-ranked Dubuque Senior Friday night, 70-62.

"It's really tough coming off that high-energy game Friday night with Senior with close to 1,000 people in the gym to maybe 100 people in the gym tonight," he said. "I feel like we did a great job of bring our own energy, which is difficult at times. It's something we're learning, it's something we're trying to do.

"I was happy we were able to switch gears," he said. "And that's the first time we've been able to put somebody away all year. That's something we've been talking about and working on in practice."

The Cougars opened a 50-32 lead in the third quarter with an 11-0 spurt. The margin reached 20 points at 56-36 on a three-point play by Brendon Manning and grew to 22 points on a bucket by Heitland in the fourth stanza.

Kennedy averaged 59.6 points in its first eight games this season, but the Cougars have averaged 73.3 points in their last three contests.

"We've been able to do what we do in practice every day: Push the ball, push the ball, push the ball and get good shots," said Heitland, "and now they're dropping."

McKowen thinks the best could be yet to come.

"We don't feel like we've shot it well as a team yet, as well as we do every day in practice. That's understandable," he said. "I truly feel this team can go out there and make fifteen 3's a night. And not just a random night."

The Cougars have numerous multi-sport athletes on the team and McKowen did not let them attend open gyms when their other sports were in session, perhaps slowing their growth on the basketball floor.

"we did not think we were going to be great on offense until after Christmas because of that. And that's OK," he said. "We're starting to figure each other out."

McKowen hopes the 9-2 record and No.9 ranking are just the start of good things to come.

"We understand the only thing that matters to us is getting that substate seed and then our next goal will be to figure out a way to get through substate," he said. "That's the main thing. Once you get to the state tournament, anything can happen."

Ondra Bradford scored 15 points for Waterloo East (3-9, 1-7). Timoz Buford added 12.

WATERLOO EAST (52): Nash 2 0-0 5, Sales 2 1-2 5, Bradford 6 0-2 15, Buford 4 3-4 12, Hoskins 1 0-0 2, Terry 1 2-2 5, Greer 2 0-0 4, Campbell 0 0-0 0, Wise 2 0-0 4. Totals 20 6-10 52.

KENNEDY (73): Daniels 5 0-0 11, Cook 0 0-0 0, Carter 4 4-6 13, Jacobus 1 2-2 5, Bil 0 0-0 0, Murdock 4 0-0 10, Bell 1 0-0 2, Buck 0 0-0 0, Heisler 1 1-1 3, Hall 0 0-0 0, Odom 0 0-0 0, Holzer 3 1-2 7, Manning 3 1-1 7, Heitland 6 3-3 15, Schulz 0 0-0 0. Totals 28 12-15 73.

Halftime - Kennedy 39, Waterloo East 30. 3-point goals - Waterloo East 6 (Bradford 3, Nash 1, Buford 1, Terry 1), Kennedy 5 (Murdock 2, Daniels 1, Carter 1, Jacobus 1).