WATERLOO — It’s been a long time coming, but Monday night at Siddens Gymnasium, the Waterloo West boys basketball team won its first postseason game since the 1999-2000 season. 

The Wahawks led the entire game, taking the lead when Dale Jones stroked a 3-pointer from the corner and never looking back on the way to a 68-59 victory over Cedar Rapids Prairie.

“This is the first time that a West Waterloo team has won a postseason game in 11 years,” said a Wahawk Coach Justin Little. “These seniors did not want to go out without a victory, and that’s huge for them and I’m proud of them.”

One of the critical building blocks for the West program over the past four years has been point guard Trent Washington, and Monday night he was playing for the last time at Siddens Gymnasium. He didn’t disappoint, netting 28 points as he ignited the Wahawks.

“I was crying a little bit ago,” said Washington after the game. “This was my last time ever playing at West High, and I wanted to go out with a bang.

“I was forcing shots earlier in the season and coaches told me to let the game come to me. I was trying to get everyone involved tonight and knock down the shots when I needed to.”

Prairie didn’t go quietly. Back on Dec. 14, West whipped the Hawks, 85-68.

“I’ll take it,” said Little. “The kids gutted it out, and we had to play a little bit more man-to-man than we usually do, but that’s alright. We did what we needed to get the win.”

Prairie made a run in the fourth quarter, cutting the lead to 46-44 with 5 minutes, 24 seconds remaining, but Washington took control by netting floaters and penetrating the lane. Then a thunderous dunk by Jones with 2:50 remaining sealed the win.

“This is a tribute to their senior (Trent) Washington, who helped get the job done for them,” said Prairie Coach James Moses. “But we had some growth as a team tonight and despite a few possessions we came up a bit short.”

West now turns its attention to the second round of the postseason and a familiar opponent in Cedar Falls.

“There’s no pressure on us. All the pressure is on Cedar Falls,” said Little. “We’re just happy and humbled to play Cedar Falls on Friday night and see what happens.”

Added Washington, “We feel good about playing them. We’re just going to bring it to them and try to get the victory.”
 

PRAIRIE (59): Jacob Aune 1-9 0-1 2, Jerome Frazier 2-3 2-2 6, Tyler Mougin 0-2 2-2 2, Brooks Kehoe 4-7 3-3 13, Austin Dellamuth 0-1 0-0 0, Blaine Hilgenkamp 0-3 0-0 0, Jace Hanna 0-0 0-0 0, Matthew Jantzen 3-5 0-0 8, Brandon Lafferty 2-4 2-3 6, Matthew MacDougall 6-15 4-4 17, Thomas Eilers 2-3 0-0 5, Carson Goodale 0-0 0-0 0, Chaz Boots 0-0 0-0 0, Garrett Rasmussen 0-0 0-0 0, Trent Schulte 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-53 13-15 59.

WATERLOO WEST (68): Trent Washington 11-16 4-6 28, Malcolm Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Dominick Smith 7-12 0-0 14, DiMarco Mallett 1-1 0-0 3, Daquan Moore 0-2 1-4 1, Malik Green 0-1 0-0 0, Isaah Williams 0-0 0-0 0, Dale Jones 6-9 2-2 15, Queshawn Roby 0-0 0-0 0, Tre Johnson 3-6 1-1 7, Xavier Hightower 0-0 0-0 0, Marcus Phillips 0-0 0-0 0, Austin McMahon 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 28-48 8-13 69.

Halftime -- Waterloo West 26, Prairie 20. 3-point goals – Prairie 6 (Kehoe 2, Jantzen 2, MacDougall, Eilers), West 4 (Washington 2, Mallett, Jones). Turnovers – Prairie 7, West 16. Total fouls – Prairie 16, West 19. Fouled out – None.

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