If you wanted to hear me - a guy who's done football play-by-play for years, but only watched basketball once in a while - try to do basketball on the radio, well, you missed your chance.
I had to step in on KMRY to fill in for Morgan Hawk a few times this month, first for a regular-season girls' game at Prairie, and then three postseason tournament games. My schedule won't allow me to do any more (even though both the boys and girls are still alive in tournament play), so if you didn't hear - too bad.
I don't think I was terrible, but I was only okay at best. I think I did get better by my fourth try, the boys' district final at Mt. Vernon. Basketball is a lot different from football, as far as play-by-play goes, and statkeeping is tricky.
Enough about me on the radio. How about those Xavier basketball teams? The girls rolled into the tournament on an eight-game winning streak, then came from behind at halftime to beat Clear Creek-Amana handily in the regional semifinal (the Saints scored 40 points in the second half. Forty!). Xavier then took on a tough Waverly-Shell Rock team in the final, and freshman Caitlynn Daniels scored a layup with less than a minute left to break a tie, then stole the ball to ensure a win. The Saints are back in the girls' state tournament (not unusual for an odd-numbered year - Xavier has missed going to state in an odd year only once since 2005, with eight appearances and three state titles in that stretch). Xavier takes on Grinnell Tuesday night in their opening game in Des Moines (Grinnell knocked Xavier out of the postseason last year, so maybe the girls are looking for a little payback).
The boys, meanwhile, were just 10-11 in the regular season. Remember, though, they lost their last six games of the regular season in 2016, then caught fire and won the state 3A championship. They started out their defense of the title in a district semifinal at Mt. Vernon Monday against Central DeWitt, and the Saints ran away from the Sabers with a 70-30 win. Nolan Butkowski sank 4 three-pointers to lead the way with 16 points. In the district final on Thursday, Jackson Joens had 19 points and Butkowski, Matthew Mims, Quinn Schulte and Max Techau all scored in double figures to lead Xavier to a win over Mt. Vernon. The Mustangs held an 8-point lead in the first quarter, but Xavier turned it on and led by as much as 17 before winning by 8 themselves. The Xavier boys face Dubuque Wahlert Monday night at the US Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids for their chance to return to the state tournament - Wahlert lost the state championship game to the Saints last year, but had a rebuilding season this year (only 5 wins in the regular season). Wahlert then upset Solon and top seeded Davenport Assumption in district play to advance to this substate final.
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