Kennedy Home

No. 3 Cougars overpowered by Jefferson

Jarrod Uthoff bought a ticket and watched his future teammates at the University of Wisconsin defeat Iowa in a physical game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Wednesday night.

It inspired him Friday night against Kennedy.

Uthoff scored 26 points, snared a career-high 19 rebounds and blocked five shots as No. 9  Jefferson upended the third-ranked Cougars, 53-44, at  Jefferson.

The 26 points were typical (he leads the state at 26.2 per game), but the 19 rebounds and five blocks were nearly twice his norm. He played a fierce, inspired game at both ends of the court, 48 hours after watching that physical game in Iowa City.

"I realized I need to get a lot stronger and be more physical to play in the Big Ten," he said. "And I figured I should start playing like it right now."

Uthoff is 6-foot-8 and 190 pounds, but he's gained 10 pounds of muscle since last season and does a better job of catching the ball in traffic. He's also a stronger defender and held Kennedy's Jake Manning to six points, about half his average.

Kennedy Coach Bob Fontana thought Uthoff played great.

"He wanted it," said Fontana. "It was important to him. He stepped up. And that's why he's the player he is."

Asked if Uthoff should be Mr. Basketball in Iowa this year, Fontana thought for a minute, mulled other possible candidates and responded, "Yeah. I think he is."

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Late FT dooms No. 3 Cougars

IOWA CITY –  “Gone in 65 seconds.”

If Tuesday night’s game between Kennedy and Iowa City West were to get a Hollywood movie treatment that would be the working title.

The host Trojans, ranked ninth in Class 4A, used a pair of defensive stops and a trip to the free throw line in the closing minute-plus of action to upset No. 3 Kennedy, 45-44.

Josiah Coleman knotted the score at 44 when the Kennedy junior pulled up and knocked down a jumper with 1 minute 33 seconds left to play. After Iowa City West’s Leo Franz missed a triple the Cougars called time out with a minute five remaining to set up their first attempt at a possible game-winning play. The resulting set never came to fruition however as West ratcheted up its defensive pressure and Jeremy Morgan coaxed a 5 second call after bird-dogging Kennedy guard Jacob Misener.

“I’d like to see a tape of that,” Kennedy Coach Bob Fontana said.

West Coach Steve Bergman said Morgan’s defensive stop was the play of game, even bigger than his back-to-back 3-point shots in the waning moments of the third quarter that erased a six-point Kennedy lead.

Morgan’s stop was the beginning of the end for the Cougars, who fell to 14-3 on the year and 9-3 in MVC action.

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Kennedy girls give No. 3 team a tussle

It was hard to tell the winning coach from the losing one in the Kennedy gym Tuesday night.

After his third-ranked Iowa City West girls eked out a hard-fought 62-53 victory, B.J. Mayer looked like he'd been through the wringer.

"Kennedy's a nice, well-coached team," said the exuberant young coach, hoarse and drained in sweat. "Their record is very deceiving."

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Ex-coach Collis inducted into Nevada HS Hall

The late Mike Collis, who coached Kennedy to a state basketball title in 1972, has been inducted into the Nevada High School Hall of Fame. He was a football, basketball and track star for Nevada in the 1960's.

Collis started the basketball program at Kennedy in 1967 and began his career with a long losing streak. He was only 24 when he got that first coaching job at Kennedy, and a few years later he led the Cougars to the state title.

Collis went into private business with his family in Des Moines after grabbing the state crown and met his untimely death in December of 1972, just a few months after winning the title.