Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Liberty High overcame somewhat sluggish starts and halftime deficits in each of its first two wins of the season.

There was no late rally required in win number three.

Liberty High closed the first half on a 17-4 run to get separation and then buried City High under a barrage of 3-pointers in an 80-50 win over the Little Hawks in a cross-town showdown on Tuesday in Iowa City.

“We’ve had some tough starts to games and we usually pick it up in the second half but we really wanted to bring the energy from the start tonight,” Liberty High senior guard Ira Hazeltine said. “Especially since it’s an intracity game it’s a little more personal because we know these guys so well so it’s a big win.”

Ethan O’Donnell had three 3-pointers and a game-high 18 points to lead five Liberty High players in double figures.

Hazeltine was 4-of-5 from 3-point range and had 14 points as Liberty High hit 13 3-pointers and shot 58 percent from the field.

“We pride ourselves on being a team that if you are open you shoot it,” O’Donnell said. “Shoot it with confidence, knock it down and get back and play defense.”

Liberty High (3-0) overcame halftime deficits of six and 12 points in December wins over Cedar Rapids Prairie and Cedar Rapids Jefferson.

In its first game of 2021 the Lightning didn’t wait as long to get rolling.

Liberty High took the lead for good on a Griffin Kraft conventional 3-point play with 3:43 left in the opening quarter, led by 14 at the half and never let the margin sink under double digits.

“We want to bring the energy right from the start every game,” O’Donnell said. “That’s something that we lacked in our first two games, we came out a little slow and that is something that coach (Ryan) Kelly and coach (Stu) Ordman really worked with us on coming out strong and bringing the energy from the start.”

Liberty High led 16-14 after one quarter and 23-22 with 4:45 left in the first half when City High took a timeout following a Kolby Kucera 3-pointer.

It was all Lightning the rest of the way.

Kelby Telander hit a 3-pointer on the ensuing Liberty High possession to spark a 9-0 Lightning burst that pushed the lead to 10.

The Liberty High lead surged to 14 by halftime as O’Donnell and Hazeltine each hit 3-pointers in the final 48 seconds of the half.

After going 6-of-14 from the floor in the opening quarter Liberty High hit 8-of-12 field goals in the second quarter including 4-of-6 3-pointers.

The Lightning shot 64 percent from the field over the final three quarters while outscoring City High 64-36.

“When we went about three minutes and it was 3-2 I was thinking it was one of those grind it out games,” Liberty High co-head coach Ryan Kelly said. “Then a couple of guys saw the ball go in the hoop and I think that’s what helped us get going.”

City High cut the lead to 40-30 with back-to-back baskets by Darren Richardson and Raph Hamilton to open the second half but Liberty High scored the next 11 points in less than two minutes.

Basil Aldoss, who finished with nine points, started the spurt with a basket and O’Donnell hit a 3-pointer.

Hazeltine nailed back-to-back triples to push the lead to 51-30 with 5:12 left in the third quarter.

“My teammates really look for me and (Telander and O’Donnell) bring so much attention because they are such great scorers down low,” Hazeltine said. “When we can spread the ball around we are really tough to defend.”

Griffin Kraft came off the bench to score 16 points while Telander had 10 points and seven rebounds while going 2-of-2 from 3-point range.

Six different Liberty High players made a 3-pointer as the Lightning went 13-of-18 from beyond the arc.

“We had five guys in double figures tonight and that’s how we want to play,” Kelly said. “We shared the ball and anybody can have an awesome night on any given night and that’s what makes us dangerous I think is that you have to game plan for more than just one or two guys.”

Jamari Newson led City High with 13 points and six reounds but no other Little Hawk had more than six.

City High shot 37 percent from the field and committed 20 turnovers.

“We did a much better job of containing,” Hazltine said. “They have a lot of great drivers and attackers and we did a good job of staying in front of them and we got out and ran on offense.”

City High                     14  12  17   7  –  50

Liberty High              16  24  22  18 –  80

City High (50) – Keyoun Agee 0-1 0-0 0, Cedric Dunnwald 1-2 0-0 2, Cade Obermueller 1-2 0-0 3, Kolby Kucera 2-4 0-0 5, Andre Miller 2-4 0-0 6, Byron Benton 2-6 0-0 4, Shamar Benton 1-3 0-0 2, Gavin Koch 0-5 3-4 3, Darren Richardson 1-6 2-3 4, Jamari Newson 5-10 0-0 13, Taeshon McDaniels 1-1 0-1 2, Bram Sueppel 2-3 0-0 4, Raph Hamilton 1-4 0-1 2, Totals 19-51 5-9 50.

Liberty High (80) – Grayson Tyler 1-2 0-0 3, Ira Hazeltine 5-8 0-0 14, JaQuez Hall 4-5 0-1 10, Cody Schroeder 0-1 0-0 0, Max Beckman 0-2 0-0 0, Ethan O’Donnell 5-9 5-6 18, Basil Aldoss 4-6 0-0 9, Griffin Kraft 6-9 4-5 16, Kelby Telander 4-6 0-2 10, Jack Abel 0-2 0-0 0, Totals 29-50 9-14 80.

3-point field goals – ICH 7-20 (Obermueller 1-1, Kucera 1-3, Miller 2-4, B. Benton 0-1, S. Benton 0-1, Koch 0-3, Richardson 0-2, Newson 3-5), ICL 13-18 (Tyler 1-2, Hazeltine 4-5, Hall 2-3, O’Donnell 3-5, Aldoss 1-1, Telander 2-2). Rebounds – ICH 26 (Newson 6), ICL 34 (Telander 7). Turnovers – ICH 20, ICL 14. Total fouls – ICH 16, ICL 12. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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