If there was a method to Prairie Coach James Moses getting mad Tuesday night, it didn't work.

He was called for his first technical foul for arguing with officials with 4:15 left in a home game against Cedar Falls when his team trailed 57-37. He got tagged for his second and third technicals back-to-back 30 seconds later and was automatically ejected.

The Class 4A third-ranked Tigers rattled off 14 straight points and turned what had once been a seven-point third quarter contest into a 71-40 rout in a Mississippi Valley Conference game at Prairie.

According to Iowa High School Athletic Association Board of Control policies (p.5), coaches ejected from a game will miss the next scheduled playing date at the level of competition he/she was ejected from. The coach also is required to complete a Fundamentals of Coaching elective course entitled "Teaching and Modeling Behavior" before he/she will be allowed to return to coaching.

The Hawks close out the regular season Thursday at Jefferson. Moses said after Tuesday's game, "I plan on being on the bench. We'll have to see what happens."

Prairie Athletic Director Rocky Bennett was not available after the game to comment on the matter.

Moses, who has led the resurgent Hawks (9-11, 5-10 MVC) through an up-and-down season, made no apologies for his actions. "I did have words with the officials," he said.

He argued that the refs all night long called fouls on his team that they did not call on Cedar Falls.

"As a coach, I have a problem when the officiating is not consistent," he explained. "There were several calls that were made against us when we were making a run that were inconsistent. That definitely has an impact. They disrupted our continuity, our rhythm and our chemistry.

"Don't get me wrong," he said. "Cedar Falls outplayed us and was the better team tonight. But when I see inconsistencies I am going to fight for my team. They work too hard to have the outcome of a game decided that way."

Whether or not the refs called a fair game is a moot point, since the bigger and faster Tigers (18-2, 13-2) were clearly the better team on the floor on this night, anyway.

"I really don't know what the problem was, but we didn't play our normal game," said Prairie senior Matt MacDougall. "Maybe it was the excitement of being our last home game on senior night. But that's no excuse.

"We didn't have any defensive intensity. And we didn't communicate on defense, which led to a lot of layups. We just let them play their game. And when we did have opportunities, we didn't take advantage of them."

MacDougall was about the only offensive threat the Hawks had in the first half. He scored his team's only eight points as Cedar Falls raced to a 24-8 start.

The Tigers' bruising front line clogged up the middle on defense and time after time had easy baskets from point-blank range on offense. Meanwhile, lightning-fast guard James Harrington (a multi-sport all-stater bound to Alabama on a track scholarship) simply ran past Prairie defenders for lay-ins or dish-offs to teammates.

"Our game is to get out and run," said Cedar Falls Coach Tom Bardal. "That's the way our players like to play, and that's the game we're good at.

"It has nothing to do with coaching. If you have good players, you let them play."

After being down all the way, the Hawks did make a run for it midway through the third period when they went on a 9-0 spurt to close the gap to 35-28. But the Tigers came right back with an 8-0 run of their own and coasted the rest of the way.

"We'll have to evaluate what we did tonight and hopefully improve from it,"  Moses said. "I know we're better than what we showed tonight. We just have to prove it."

CEDAR FALLS (71): James Harrington 6 7-8 19, Caleb Konieczny 3 2-2 10, Kalund Brown 0 3-6 3, Isaac Boettger 6 0-2 12, Tony Johnson 5 0-0 10, Kasey Jackson 0 0-0 0, Kalehl Brown 5 2-4 12, Jackson Nichols 0 0-0 0, Grant Grainger 1 0-0 2, Nick Clark 0 0-0 0, Brandon Bardal 1 0-0 3, Riley Gardner 0 0-0 0. Totals 27 14-22 71.

PRAIRIE (40): Jacob Aune 0 1-2 1, Brooks Kehoe 1 0-0 3, Garrett Rasmussen 0 0-0 0, Zach Brunscheen 0 0-2 0, Matt MacDougall 4 5-6 14, Michael Mims 0 0-0 0, Ty Mougin 0 2-2 2, Cody Tonyan 1 0-0 3, Demetrius Harper 0 0-0 0, Jace Hanna 0 2-2 2, Kentrel Smith 2 2-2 6, Bryce Meeker 0 0-0 0, Mitch Adams 0 0-0 0, Tom Eilers 1 1-1 3, JoJo Simpson 3 0-0 6. Totals 12 13-17 40.

Halftime - Cedar Falls 29, Prairie 17. 3-point goals - Cedar Falls 3 (Konieczny 2, Bardal), Prairie 3 (Kehoe 1, Tonyan 1, MacDougall 1). Total fouls Cedar Falls 14, Prairie 20. Technical fouls - Prairie Coach James Moses 3.