City High Lets Early Lead Slip Away in Loss to Linn-Mar
Pat Harty
Your Prep Sports
IOWA CITY – It takes four quarters to win a high school basketball game and that proved to be one quarter too many for the City High boys basketball team.
The Little Hawks were outscored 19-3 by Linn-Mar in the fourth quarter and that was too much to overcome as the Lions stormed back to win 59-48 on Tuesday at City High.
The Little Hawks were trying to end a 14-game losing streak to Linn-Mar and were on their way to doing it with a 17-3 lead after the first quarter.
Linn-Mar chipped away at the lead in the second and third quarters, but City High still led 45-40 heading into what proved to be a disastrous fourth quarter on offense.,
Reserve Jason Allen made City High’s only basket in the fourth quarter, but it came in the closing seconds and with the outcome already decided.
“I thought credit to our guys, they came out and played pretty hard and were executing the game plan,” said City High coach Derek Roberts. “We were fortunate to get out on them early. But that’s why you play four quarters and not one.”
Linn-Mar improved to 7-4 overall and 6-3 in the Mississippi Valley Conference, while City High fell to 3-8 and 1-8 in the conference.
Roberts knew that Linn-Mar would make a run after falling behind in the first quarter. And the run started with the Lions outscoring City High 20-12 in the second quarter.
Linn-Mar still trailed 29-23 at halftime, but had seized the momentum heading into the third quarter.
Senior Trey Hutcheson missed his first five shots and was held scoreless in the opening quarter. He finally scored his first points of the game on a basket with 6 minutes left in the second quarter.
The 6-foot-5 Hutcheson would go on to score 10 points in the second quarter, and he finished with 28 points overall on 9-of-15 shooting from the field. He also made all eight of his free-throw attempts.
Sophomore guard Byron Benton led City High with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field. He also made two 3-point baskets, including one that expanded City High’s lead to 42-33 midway through the third quarter.
Senior point guard Antonio Turner made a 3-pointer late in the third quarter that gave City High a 45-38 lead, but Hutcheson answered with a basket that cut the deficit to 45-40 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Lions then scored 17 consecutive points before Benton finally made a free throw with 37 seconds left to play.
“Down the stretch, I think we didn’t trust our teammates,” Benton said. “We didn’t execute the game plan and we didn’t stick to the game plan on defense as well.”
Benton has shown steady improvement since being promoted to the varsity team over the winter break.
“He’s got really good court vision, especially for a sophomore,” Roberts said. “We brought him up a couple weeks ago and he just kept getting a little bit better and a little bit better.
“It takes a little bit to have it carry over to a game, but he’s starting to show flashes. We’ve just got to get him a little more consistent and keep improving each game.”
The same could be said for City High as a team because a lack of consistency has been a problem throughout the season.
As good as the Little Hawks played in the first quarter, they were equally as bad in the fourth quarter.
“We were trying to drive the basketball and get to the free throw line a little bit, but our spacing was off a little bit,” Roberts said. “That’s something we need to work on in practice to open up driving lanes a little bit more.
“They pressured us a little bit and we had a couple turnovers and that didn’t help.”
Linn-Mar 3 20 17 19 – 59
City High 17 12 16 3 – 48
Linn-Mar (59) – Trey Hutcheson 9-15 8-8 28, Hayden Passmore 4-5 2-5 10, Greg Hall 2-5 0-0 5, John Steffen 1-6 2-2 5, Jaren Nelson 1-5 2-2 4, Brady Klahn 2-3 0-0 5, Will Zahradnik 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-40 14-17 59.
City High (48) – Antonio Turner 4-14 0-0 11, Byron Benton 6-8 1-2 15, Carter Westlake 1-2 0-0 3, Liam McComas 3-3 1-1 7, Ry Threlkeld-Wiegand 2-8 0-0 5, DeAngelo McNeil 2-2 0- 04, Darren Richardson 0-3 0-0 0, Jason Allen 1-1 1-2 3. Totals 19-41 3-5 48.
3-point goals – Linn-Mar 4 (Hutcheson, Hall, Steffen, Klahn); City High 7 (Turner 3, Benton 2, Westlake, Threlkeld-Wiegand). Fouls – Linn-Mar 7, City High 16.
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