Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

TIFFIN – Seemingly Everyone from Clear Creek Amana had the same word to describe Monday’s matchup with Class 2A sixth-ranked Dyersville Beckman.

Springboard.

The potential springboard game turned into a catapult for the Clippers.

Clear Creek Amana used a strong third quarter to build a 15-point lead and held on to upset Beckman 73-71 in a WAMAC cross-divisional game rescheduled from earlier this month.

“It’s a big win, we talked about how this is a springboard game for us,” Clear Creek Amana junior Christian Withrow said. “We knew this game would boost our confidence with a win and could be a definer for the rest of the season.”

Withrow scored a game-high 18 points to lead four Clippers in double figures as Clear Creek Amana improved to 10-4 on the season and 9-4 in WAMAC play.

The Clippers entered Monday 1-3 on the season against the top WAMAC contenders with losses to Central DeWitt, Mount Vernon and Center Point-Urbana.

Monday provided an opportunity to reverse that trend and the Clippers took full advantage.

“We talked about this game being a possible springboard for us, we viewed it as a heavyweight bout and we hadn’t had a lot of success in those and this one we really knew we wanted to get,” Clear Creek Amana coach Brandon Clubb said. “Our kids were laser focused and it worked out for us.”

Clear Creek Amana was impressive on both ends of the court on Monday while snapping a three-game winning streak for Beckman (12-3, 10-3).

The Clippers shot 62 percent from the field, outscored Beckman 16-9 at the free throw line and held the Blazers’ leading scorer Michael Keegan to five points in the first three quarters.

“I think tonight was the most complete game we have played on both ends of the floor,” Clubb said. “We absolutely executed what we wanted to do both offensively and defensively.”

The result was a win that keeps the Clippers in conference contention and more importantly raises confidence going forward.

“We had some early losses to Mount Vernon and Central DeWitt and CPU but coming off a win against a high-ranked team gives us a lot of confidence going forward,” Clear Creek Amana senior Nick O’Connor said. “That was kind of the missing piece for us was to knock off one of these top teams.”

Clear Creek Amana led 34-31 at the half after holding Keegan scoreless on just two shot attempts in the opening half.

The 6-foot-5 senior entered leading the WAMAC in scoring at 20.1 points per game but was held in check nearly the entire night by O’Connor.

“We knew he was their best offensive threat and he kind of runs their whole team and he’s a big part of why they are so successful this year so we wanted to play as good of defense as I could and try to take him out of the game as much as I could,” O’Connor said. “Good players will hit tough shots but just to keep him limited helped us out a lot.”

The Clippers quickly took control after halftime.

Clear Creek Amana opened the second half on a 14-2 run, building a 48-33 lead.

The Clippers went 7-of-13 from the field in the third quarter, including 2-of-4 from 3-point range while taking a 50-41 lead into the fourth quarter.

Clear Creek Amana continually spread the floor and beat Beckman defenders off the dribble for easy layups or kick out attempts for jump shots.

“It really helps our offense when we are sharing the ball,” junior Brock Reade said. “That was about as good as we have been offensively.”

Reade finished with 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting while senior point guard Tyler Schrepfer knocked down three 3-pointers and finished with 15 points.

O’Connor added 12 while TJ Bollers and Mike Potter each had six. Potter had a game-high eight rebounds as the Clippers finished with an edge on the glass.

“We spread the floor and we have guys that can knock down the three and tonight we did a good job of getting to the rim,” Clubb said. “That was our kids just doing what they do.”

Beckman whittled away at the lead in the final two minutes but Schrepfer hit a pair of free throws with 9.6 left to secure the win.

Keegan scored 12 of his team-high 17 points in the fourth quarter to lead Beckman.

Clear Creek Amana               14  20  16  23  –  73

Dyersville Beckman              13  18  10  30  –  71

Clear Creek Amana (73) – Brock Reade 7-8 1-3 16, Nick O’Connor 4-7 3-4 12, Tyler Schrepfer 4-8 4-6 15, Christian Withrow 8-13 2-3 18, Mike Potter 2-4 2-2 6, Team 26-42 16-24 73.

Dyersville Beckman (71) – Luke Goedken 5-11 4-4 14, Tom Jaeger 4-9 2-4 10, Michael Keegan 6-14 2-2 17, Mason White 2-8 1-2 7, Jack Westhoff 3-4 0-0 7, Logan Goedken 3-5 0-0 8, Jack Gehling 4-7 0-0 8, 27-58 9-12 71.

3-point field goals – CCA 5-11 (O’Connor 1-4, Reade 1-1, T. Schrepfer 3-6), DB 8-25 (Lu. Goedken 0-2, Jaeger 0-3, Keegan 3-7, White 2-7, Westhoff 1-2, Lo. Goedken 2-4). Rebounds – CCA 28 (Potter 8), DB 26 (Keegan 7). Turnovers – CCA 14, DB 9. Total fouls – CCA 12, DB 20. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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