CEDAR FALLS — Dubuque Wahlert 36, Dallas Bear 36.
The senior forward led all scorers in a 75-36, Cedar Falls win over the Golden Eagles, Tuesday in Mississippi Valley Conference action.
And, much like vikings in the Middle Ages attacked along the coastline, the future Augustana Viking probed the three-point line with tenacity to the tune of eight three-pointers.
“I have a lot of confidence in my teammates and tonight I was just on,” Bear said. “We played really good on the defensive end and that helped offensively.”
Bear
Bear scored early and often for the 10th-ranked Tigers as he connected on his first triple on the first possession of the game. Although he did not hit from three-point range again in the quarter, he closed out the first eight minutes of action with 11 points as the Tigers got out to a 23-8 lead.
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In the second quarter, he added two threes and eight points to send Cedar Falls to the locker room at halftime with a 38-16 lead.
According to Cedar Falls head coach Ryan Schultz, the Tigers ability to disrupt Wahlert’s offense allowed the Tigers to take such a sizeable lead into the break.
“[Defense] was definitely our catalyst tonight,” Schultz said. “I thought we really got after it. Our ball pressure was really good. We were really intense. We were good on the glass too and that sparked our offense on the other end.”
He specifically credited Jake Peters and Cade Courbat for shutting down Wahlert forward Duke Faley.
“Faley is one of the best players in the conference if not one of the better ones in the state,” Schultz said. “[Cade and Jake] did a tremendous taking him out.”
Despite Faley’s 12.9 point per game average entering Tuesday, Cedar Falls held him to four points.
However, Schultz said Cedar Falls did not bring the right amount of energy back to the court in the third quarter.
The Golden Eagles seized on the opening Cedar Falls presented and started the second half of an 11-2 run to cut the lead to 13 with just under four minutes remaining in the third.
The Tigers lackluster showing to open the second half forced Schultz to take a timeout to halt the budding comeback.
“You could almost feel it if you were in the gym,” Schultz said. “We let our foot off the gas again. It is something that we need to fix and we have talked about it. We need to figure that out.”
Cedar Falls rallied out of the timeout and, powered by eight points from Bear and five points from Courbat, finished the quarter on an 11-5 run
Cedar Falls carried its momentum into the fourth quarter and, over the first 6:28 of the final quarter, outscored Wahlert 15-2 to extend its lead to 66-34. Bear capped the run with his eighth three-pointer of the night, a step back triple in transition.
“I was hot,” Bear said. “Coach, he knows I was hot and he lets me have a heat check. So, that was my heat check. He has the confidence in me to make those kinds of shots.”
Following the win, Schultz said that the second half shows just how explosive Cedar Falls can be despite their slump in the third quarter.
“If we can put it together, and put it together for four quarters, we have a chance to be a pretty good team down the stretch,” Schultz said.
The win sets up an important road battle with No. 6 Dubuque Senior on Friday. A matchup of Class 4A top 10 teams in the AP poll, the contest will also serves as a de facto Mississippi Valley Conference Mississippi division championship.
Schultz described the contest as a game which his team has circled on the calendar.
“We have had a lot of battles over the years,” Schutlz said. “It is a well-coached team. They are very physical…They will guard us well. We are going to have our work cut out on Friday night.”
No. 10 Cedar Falls 75, Dubuque Wahlert 36
Dubuque Wahlert (10-9) – Luke Smith 2-5 0-0 5, Jack Walsh 3-5 1-1 8, Nolan Berendes 2-9 2-3 6, Seamus Crahan 4-7 0-0 9, Duke Faley 1-9 2-2 4, Patrick Fitzgerald 0-2 0-0 0, Quinn Walsh 1-5 0-0 2, Ethan Meyer 0-1 2-2 2, Spencer Cummer 0-1 0-0 0, Colin Cronin 0-0 0-0 0, Chris Schmitt 0-0 0-2 0, Riley Woods 0-0 0-0 0, Dylan Kern 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 13-45 7-10 36.
Cedar Falls (13-4) – Dallas Bear 14-18 0-0 36, Anthony Galvin 3-9 1-3 8, Cade Courbat 5-9 2-3 12, Derek Woods 0-2 1-2 1, Jake Peters 1-4 1-1 3, Aiden Heth 1-3 0-0 3, Logan Wroe 0-0 0-0 0, Tanner Jacobson 0-1 0-0 0, Jordan Townsend 1-2 0-0 3, William Gerdes 1-2 0-0 2, Jay Galvin 0-1 0-0 0, Sam Smith 1-1 0-0 2, Kael Martin 0-0 0-0 0, Colin Coonradt 0-0 0-0 0, Adric Schmitz 1-2 0-0 2, Tate Bakula 1-1 0-0 3, Arkel Hutchins 0-0 0-0 0, Will Wolf 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-55 5-10 75.
DW 8 8 16 4 – 36
CF 23 15 13 24 – 75
3-point goals – Dubuque Wahlert 3-24 (Smith 1-2, Ja. Walsh 1-1, Berendes 0-7, Crahan 1-4, Faley 0-4, Fitzgerald 0-2, Qu. Walsh 0-2, Meyer 0-1, Cummer 0-1), Cedar Falls 12-21 (Bear 8-9, An. Galvin 1-4, Woods 0-1, Heth 1-2, Jacobson 0-1, Townsend 1-2, Ja. Galvin 0-1, Bakula 1-1). Total fouls – Dubuque Wahlert 10, Cedar Falls 14. Fouled out – none.
