Jefferson’s huge fourth-quarter comeback stuns Washington

CEDAR RAPIDS - And on top of all that, they went into the stands to help clean up the bleachers after the game.

That’s what Cedar Rapids Jefferson boys’ basketball players are asked to do by their coach Wes Bruns. Pick up empty popcorn bags, candy wrappers, soda bottles, etc., and discard them in waste containers.

You can understand it at home, but these J-Hawks do it for road games as well, including Friday’s game at rival Cedar Rapids Washington. Let’s just say Jefferson cleaned up after doing the Warriors dirty during the game.

A 65-61 win Friday night was a lesson in not quitting when many teams certainly would have. Washington built a 21-point lead late in the third quarter and was still up by 16 headed to the fourth, 54-38.

But then everything completely flipped. Just like that.

“You can’t quit,” said Jefferson guard Khai Gatewood, who had a team-high 24 points. “You wanna win, you can’t stop going.”

Which the J-Hawks never never did. Gatewood credited a Jefferson spark late in the third to rarely used guard Zavion Roquette, who came into the game for the first time, stole an inbounds pass and dribbled down for a layup.

“We were down 20, Z came in, hit a layup, we got hyped,” Gatewood said. “From there, it just went our way. We just came back and got the dub.”

Washington (5-12) has lost eight in a row, with this one clearly the most galling to take. Two of the Warriors’ three starting freshmen (wing Hal Jackson and guard Trae Fields) were doing their considerable thing in helping Wash to the big double-digit lead, but all of a sudden they and the rest of their teammates couldn’t do much of anything right: turning over the basketball, quick shooting, just generally showing their age by obviously being flustered.

Jackson had 21 points in the game but only six in the second half and two in the fourth quarter. Fields had a game-high 23 points (15 in the third) but didn’t score in the fourth.

“Not really much I want to comment on,” said frustrated Washington Coach Nate Garner.

After a long pause, he finally said “Complacency and youth.”

Jefferson (5-11, winners of three of four) got back into this game so, so quickly. Its 16-point deficit after the third quarter went down to nine just a minute and a half into the fourth.

Sophomore Jayden Faulkner’s four-point play (a corner trey and subsequent free throw after being fouled) made it a 56-53 game, then teammate Jonah Diekman made a pair of free throws to make it 56-55 not even midway through the fourth quarter.

“We battled,” Bruns said. “I think we had a couple of and-ones there that gave us confidence, and we just kept staying with it. I told the kids they’re getting better. We’re like a 6-foot-and-under team, but we battle hard. I love the kids. They’ve really come together.”

Ian Eirp provided the biggest shot of the game, when he splashed a corner trey with 1:07 left to put Jeff up for good, 61-58. He’d missed his first nine shots in the game, but No. 10 was money.

“Hearing all the noise when it went through, it just felt so good,” Eirp said.

Wash cut a four-point deficit to one on a Brian Robertson inside and-one with 14 seconds left. He’s also a freshman.

Faulker, who had 12 points in the game, made one of two free throws for a 63-61 J-Hawks lead with 10.4 seconds left. After a couple of Jeff fouls (it wasn’t in the fourth-quarter bonus), Wash’s Will Rahe took an inbounds pass and drove the court, getting a pretty good look at the hoop on a left lane drive.

But his shot didn’t fall and Diekman rebounded and was fouled with .2 to go. He made both free throws, and Jefferson had its first win over Washington in three years.

Somehow.

“Towards the end of the game, we were getting in their heads and stuff,” Gatewood said. “You could tell that. Their maturity isn’t all the way there, yet.”

“We just kept fighting,” Eirp said.

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AT CEDAR RAPIDS WASHINGTON

CEDAR RAPIDS JEFFERSON (65): Jonah Diekman 5-8 2-2 12, Dayten Guy 3-7 3-4 9, Zach Thielman 1-4 0-0 3, Khai Gatewood 10-17 2-3 24, Jayden Faulkner 2-6 6-9 12, Ian Eirp 1-10 0-0 3, Benjamin Patton 0-0 0-0 0, Zavion Roquette 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 23-53 13-18 65.

CEDAR RAPIDS WASHINGTON (61): Hal Jackson 10-19 0-0 21, Brian Robertson 3-6 3-5 9, Trei Crowder 3-7 0-0 8, Will Rahe 0-4 0-0 0, Trae Fields 9-19, 1-1 23, Chuck Crawley 0-4 0-0 0, John Moore 0-0 0-0 0, Javion Seals 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-60 4-6 61.

Halftime - Washington 33, Jefferson 24. 3-point goals - Jefferson 6-21 (Guy 0-3, Thielman 1-4, Gatewood 2-5, Faulkner 2-4, Eirp 1-5), Washington 7-21 (Jackson 1-4, Crowder 2-3, Fields 4-12, Crawley 0-1, Seals 0-1). Rebounds - Jefferson 35 (Diekman 7, Guy, Gatewood 6), Washington 32 (Jackson 13). Total fouls - Jefferson 13, Washington 18. Fouled out - Rahe. Turnovers - Jefferson 15, Washington 13.

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