Kennedy Boys Basketball

No.9 Cougars crack AP basketball poll

Cedar Rapids Kennedy broke into the Associated Press boys basketball rankings for the first time this season in the No.9 spot in the Class 4A poll.

The Cougars have an 8-2 record and gave top-ranked Dubuque Senior a tough game before falling last Friday at home, 70-62.

Dubuque Senior (10-0) continues to lead the Class 4A rankings this week. The other No.1 teams are Dubuque Wahlert in Class 3A, Western Christian in Class 2A and Gehlen Catholic in Class 1A.

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Cougars scare No.1 Rams before falling

The Kennedy Cougars threw a scare into top-ranked Dubuque Senior Friday night, but making them nervous was not the goal.

The goal was claiming a signature victory on their homecourt, so cutting a 16-point deficit to just six points in the fourth quarter was not good enough.

"No. It's a loss," said Kennedy Coach Jon McKowen after the Cougars fell short, 70-62. "It doesn't matter if it's 40 or six or eight or whatever."

Dubuque Senior (10-0, 6-0) features a college-size lineup of four college-bound athletes who stand 6-foot-9, 6-foot-9, 6-foot-7 and 6-foot-5, the same guys who defeated then No.1-Iowa City West this season and snapped the Trojans' 60-game winning streak.

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Heitland helps Cougars scalp Saints

New Kennedy Coach Jon McKowen had a few words of advice for Drew Heitland when basketball practice began in November.

Get a haircut, son.

"He was like, 'You can't be looking like a girl,'" Heitland said Tuesday night. "So I just cut it and it's out of my face now.

"I just went down the street to Cost Cutters from Kennedy and they chopped it all off."

Heitland has a good look at the basket these days without all that long hair in his eyes and he proved it Tuesday with a big game against the Xavier Saints.

The burly football player scored a career-high 17 points to help the Cougars outscore the Saints, 85-76, in an entertaining game at the Xavier gym.

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Kennedy boys win at Wisconsin Dells

WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. - Anthony Carter, JB Bil and Drew Heitland scored 11 points apiece Saturday as the Kennedy Cougars topped Reedsburg (Wis.), 52-44, in a basketball event at the Wisconsin Dells.

Bryton Heisler contributed 10 points to the balanced attack as Kennedy raised its record to 7-1.

Kennedy senior John Bardsley has a broken bone in his hand and will be sidelined for several weeks.

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