Courtney Henderson and Ryan Schultz played against each other in high school.
Henderson — a Waterloo East graduate— and Schultz — a Cedar Falls alum — have competed against each other on the court. And they’ve coached against one another, too, just not at the state championship level.
On Friday, March 13, though, the two head coaches went head-to-head as Henderson’s Johnston team and Cedar Falls, led by Schultz, competed for the Class 4A title at the Iowa high school boys state basketball tournament. The Tigers – and Schultz – came out on top, piecing together a second-half comeback for a 56-48 win over the Dragons.
“Number 1’s been on our back all year, and then to do it in the dramatic fashion that we just did it in, this puts this team on a new height,” Schultz said.
Cedar Falls capped their perfect season with a championship, going 25-0 and sitting at the top of the Class 4A rankings all year. Will Gerdes led the Tigers to victory in the title game, with 19 points; Jaydon Kimbrough and Leyton Wolf each contributed 13 points.
It marks the first time since 2013 that a team in the state’s largest class won a state title with a perfect record (Iowa City West, 26-0).
But it didn’t look like Cedar Falls would pull off the perfect season, at least not in the first half.
Johnston jumped out to an early lead as Nicare Cavil kicked off the scoring with a 3-pointer, and he got hot after that. The Dragons junior scored five baskets – on six shots – from beyond the arc, and he collected 17 points in the first quarter alone.
Cedar Falls, on the other hand, experienced an abnormal opening quarter. The Tigers scored seven points but only one field goal. Kimbrough sank a 3-pointer – in response to Cavil’s first – and the other four points came from Gerdes at the foul line.
Behind a double-digit performance from Cavil, Johnston ended the first quarter with a 22-7 lead.
The Dragons’ leading scorer took a backseat in the second quarter, letting teammate Emri Jones take control instead. Jones went four-of-five on 3-point attempts, and he scored all 12 of Johnston’s second-quarter points. Cedar Falls managed more points in the frame – outscoring the Dragons, 14-12 – with six of those points coming off free throws.
“It’s a game of runs,” Henderson said. “So, we knew coming in that if we can shoot the ball well, we can stick around. (Cedar Falls) is very physical. They’ve got two bigs inside, and they shoot the ball extremely well. We needed to defend and rebound, and we were unable to do that.”
Johnston out-rebounded Cedar Falls, came away with more steals and turned the ball over fewer times over the first two quarters. But the Dragons also were called for 11 fouls to the Tigers’ two – including a technical against Jones – and those extra trips to the line helped Cedar Falls cut into Johnston’s lead, which stood 34-21 at halftime.
The undefeated, top-seeded Tigers weren’t going down without a fight. Cedar Falls came out of the locker room and scored nine unanswered points. Johnston took over four minutes to get on the board in the second half, with the Dragons not picking up any points on their first seven shots.
Cedar Falls outscored Johnston, 15-3, in the third, but the Dragons still hung on to a 37-36 lead heading into the final frame.
Kimbrough knocked down a 3-pointer in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, giving the Tigers their first lead of the game. Cedar Falls extended its lead to five points, and then the two teams went back-and-forth exchanging the lead for most of the fourth.
Cedar Falls pulled away in the final minutes of the game, building up to a nine-point advantage with under a minute left on the clock. Cavil and Joshua Jenkins hit late shots to keep it close, but it was too little too late to get past the Tigers.
The Dragons were led by Cavil, who scored 25 points in the loss. Johnston finishes the season with a 17-9 overall record.
“I hope they’re inspired,” Henderson said about the number of juniors on his team that could return next season. “I hope this motivates us in the offseason to put in the hard work and get back down here next year.”
Alyssa Hertel is the college sports recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at ahertel@dmreg.com or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Cedar Falls tops Johnston to claim Iowa boys state basketball title undefeated
Reporting by Alyssa Hertel, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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