Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – When winter weather forces the cancellation of games the only thing basketball teams can do is get to work in practice.

City High coach Derek Roberts liked the way his team responded in practice when faced with a week between games due to some harsh winter weather.

When a break in the weather allowed City High an opportunity to sneak in a game on Friday the Little Hawks took it regardless of the circumstances.

City High didn’t respond as well on Friday to its first game action in seven days.

Cedar Rapids Xavier outscored City High 19-6 in the second quarter and rolled to a 59-36 win in a Mississippi Valley Conference Mississippi Division matchup at Southeast Junior High in Iowa City.

“Honestly the last two days I thought we had some really good practices,” Roberts said. “We were getting after each other (in practice) but it just didn’t show tonight.

City High had its Tuesday game with Cedar Falls postponed to Saturday by snow and Friday’s game was moved to Southeast after a broken water main at City High on Friday.

Regardless of the schedule circumstances or the venue Roberts believed his team was ready to return to action.

“As a competitor you want to play the game you don’t want to sit around and wait,” Roberts said. “We were ready to go.”

City High (3-10) was up to the task early.

The Little Hawks hit three first-quarter 3-pointers, taking a 13-10 lead after one quarter on a triple by Antonio Turner with 1:09 left in the opening quarter.

That was the final lead for the Little Hawks.

Xavier made its first four shots of the second quarter, including three consecutive 3-pointers to take a 22-15 lead it would never give up.

“We came out and I thought played pretty the first quarter,” Roberts said. “We played pretty good defense and held them to 10 points but they threw something different at us and it threw us off kilter and we never recovered from that.”

After a scoreless first quarter Xavier junior Jacob Beckmann scored 14 of his game-high 21 points in the second quarter as the Saints outscored City High 19-6.

Xavier (6-7) shot 53 percent from the field on Friday but was especially efficient in the second and third quarters connecting on 13-of-19 field goals while outscoring City High 34-11.

“It’s tough to win ball games when you can’t get stops,” Roberts said. “We predicate a lot on the fast break and if you can’t get stops its harder to get out and run.”

City High meanwhile couldn’t get anything to fall during the critical second and third quarters as Xavier steadily pulled away.

The Little Hawks made 2-of-23 field goals during the second and third quarters and missed all 14 of their field goal attempts in the third quarter.

City High went more than five minutes without a point to open the second half as Xavier used an 11-0 run to turn a 10-point halftime advantage into a 40-19 lead.

“I thought we had quite a few good inside looks and we just didn’t make layups tonight,” Roberts said. “I think we were 4-of-22 from 3-point range, that’s tough, we just couldn’t make shots we have to make shots.”

Byron Benton led City High with 10 points while Keshawn Christian came off the bench to score seven in his first action of the season.

City High        13   6    5   12  –  36  

CR Xavier      10  19  15  15  –  59

City High (36) – Antonio Turner 2-8 0-0 5, Luke Young 0-2 1-2 1, Jason Allen 0-1 0-0 0, Darren Richardson 3-6 0-0 6, DeAngelo McNeil 0-3 1-2 1, Byron Benton 3-8 2-4 10, Keshawn Christian 2-7 3-4 7, Ry Threlkeld-Wiegand 1-8 0-0 3, Jackson Walthart 0-1 0-0 0, Samir Abdalla 0-1 0-0 0, Liam McComas 0-3 0-2 0, Juwan Beard 1-2 0-0 3, Totals 12-50 7-14 36.

CR Xavier (59) – Hunter Hartgrave 0-0 0-1 0, Tre McCrary 3-3 1-1 7, Bryson Bastian 3-4 0-0 8, Davis Wagner 3-6 0-0 6, Jacob Beckmann 7-11 3-3 21, Mitch Helmkamp 2-3 0-0 5, Quinn Schulte 2-4 0-0 4, Nick Hansel 3-3 0-0 7, Jaylon Moses 0-5 0-0 0, Matt Jordebrek 0-1 0-0 0, Austin Marlin 0-3 0-0 0, Totals 23-43 4-5 59.

3-point field goals – ICH 5-22 (Turner 1-5, Young 0-1, Allen 0-1, Richardson 0-2, Benton 2-3, Keshawn Christian 0-2, Ry Threlkeld-Wiegand 1-4, Samir Abdalla 0-1, Liam McComas 0-1, Juwan Beard 1-2), CRX 9-19 (McCrary 1-1, Bastian 2-3, Wagner 0-3, Beckmann 4-6, Helmkamp 1-1, Hansel 1-1, Moses 0-1, Marlin 0-3). Rebounds – ICH 31 (McNeil 7), CRX 29 (Beckmann 5). Turnovers – ICH 16, CRX 15. Total fouls – ICH 14, CRX 18. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.