Cedar Falls Tigers Lose Heart-Breaker at State Tournament

Cedar Falls will play for the consolation prize after losing a heart-breaker in the Iowa High School Boys Basketball State Tournament semifinals on Friday (March 11, 2016).

The Tigers (20-5) now play Pleasant Valley (23-2) in the third-place game at 1:45 PM today (March 12) at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Both the Tigers and Spartans are coming off of heart-breaking losses.

Cedar Falls battled the entire game to pull even with Iowa City West. The Trojans led the entire game until A.J. Green scored a layup for the Tigers to tie the game at 59-59 with nine seconds left in regulation. Iowa City West missed the initial game-winning shot with the clock running down, but Tanner Lohaus tipped-in the rebound as time expired, giving the Trojans (22-3) a 61-59 win in the second semifinal game of the day.

A.J. Green scored 24 points to lead scoring for Cedar Falls. Green went 8-for-12 from the field, including 5-for-8 from behind the three-point line. Treyshawn Labeaux added 12 points, and Taylen Alexander scored 11 points.

During the first semifinal game, the Spartans fought to tie up their game against West Des Moines Valley (22-3) on two separate occasions to force double overtime. But it was Valley's Turner Scott that drained a buzzer-beater, securing a 50-48 win for the Tigers as the second overtime came to an end.