Cedar Falls boys basketball season recap
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa — The Cedar Falls Tigers boys’ basketball team opened their season back in December with a win at Waterloo East before falling to Cedar Rapids Jefferson in their second game. Trey Campbell and Dallas Bear and the Tigers won 18 of their next 19 games including a 15 game win streak with their only loss coming to Cedar Rapids Prairie.
Campbell’s 24.4 points per game along with six rebounds and 4.2 assists per game added to Bear’s 14.1 points and 5.9 rebounds per game got Cedar Falls all the way to the substate final against West Des Moines Valley. Campbell did what he does best and led Cedar Falls to a 39-36 win, scoring 23 and adding four assists along the way. 6’7 Sophomore Cade Courbat played a huge role in the win over Valley, scoring 10 points, grabbing five rebounds, and blocking two shots. The win extended the Tigers win streak to 16 and clinched their ticket to the state tournament for the fifth consecutive year where they found themselves as the No. 2 seed following Burlington’s upset win over undefeated Pleasant Valley.
Cedar Falls got matched up with MVC rival, No. 7 Cedar Rapids Prairie with a semifinal rematch against No. 3 Johnston as a possibility pending their first round outcome against No. 6 Ankeny. Cedar Falls and Prairie went back and forth throughout the first half until Prairie hit three free throws to end the half with a 28-25 lead. The Tigers came out from half and even took a lead before a strong offensive fourth quarter from Prairie put the Tigers away for their final game of the season with a final score of 62-52. Campbell finished with 32 points for Cedar Falls including six made threes. Bear added eight points and four rebounds and Derek Woods had seven off of 3-for-4 shooting for the Tigers.
Campbell finished his high school career with just seven losses including three at the state tournament and 1,022 points. The UNI basketball commit also recorded 315 assists in his three years for the Tigers, breaking the all-time school record and recorded 142 steals which ranks second all time at Cedar Falls. Campbell was named to the 1st team All-State and Bear was named to the 3rd team All-state. The Tigers will be returning five players who played significant minutes this season for head coach Ryan Shultz. Those players include current juniors Bear and Woods, sophomores Courbat and Jake Peters, and freshman Anthony Galvin so expect another run for the state tournament next year from the Cedar Falls Tigers.
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