Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – In any other year playing a Saturday morning game in an almost entirely empty gym would seem unusual.

This season teams all over the state have grown used to the seemingly strange circumstances.

“It’s super weird,” West High senior point guard Christian Barnes said. “But we’ve sort of gotten used to everything being weird.”

In an altogether odd season West High has experienced as much as the abnormal of the pandemic season as anyone.

West High played just its fourth game in a span of 39 days on Saturday holding off Burlington  70-61 in a non-conference contest in Iowa City.

Pete Moe scored a game-high 26 points on Saturday morning as West High improved to 2-4 with its second win of the month over Burlington.

The game was a late replacement for an already reschedule matchup with conference foe Cedar Rapids Prairie that had to be scrapped due to Covid protocols and moved up to an 11 a.m. tip off to avoid a potential winter storm.

All things that West High has learned to deal with during a season unlike any other.

“We are working our butts of in practice so when we get a chance to play that’s our opportunity,” Barnes said. “When we finally get a chance to play we have to let it all out.”

Saturday’s win over Burlington was the latest in what has been a stop and go season filled with pauses and littered with schedule changes.

West High didn’t start practice until the middle of December and had six practices before falling to City High in its season opener on December 18.

Four days later West High lost a two-point game to Linn-Mar in its final competition before the holiday break.

West High appeared to be gaining traction with a 65-58 win over Burlington on January 2 but a one-point loss to Xavier on January 5 was followed by a two-week Covid caused shutdown.

“I feel like we were really close to putting it together when we got shut down,” Moe said. “We were getting a lot better and we got shut down and had to start all over again.”

West High came out of quarantine last week but had Tuesday’s contest at Waterloo East postponed by weather.

“It’s tough staying in the flow of things,” Moe said. “You get in a good flow and you have to sit out for two weeks so it’s kind of frustrating. Then we were ready to go on Tuesday and that game gets cancelled so it’s been frustrating.”

Adding to the oddity of the season all four January games for the Trojans came against the same two teams.

West High lost to Cedar Rapids Xavier 47-40 on Friday before getting back on track with Saturday’s win over Burlington (5-8).

“There is a lot of frustration I think,” Bergman said. “It’s tough. This is really the only time they are ever together. It’s hard to build a team when they can’t be together except on the floor.”

West High looked like a team building momentum on Saturday.

The Trojans shot 60 percent from the field and had five players with at least eight points led by Moe.

The 6-foot-8 junior who transferred to West High from Indiana before this season was unstoppable around the hoop, hitting 7-of-11 from the floor and converting on 12-of-13 trips to the foul line.

“When I got here I only practiced a few times before that first game so I just went out and played,” Moe said. “Now that I’m in the flow of things our chemistry is a lot better.”

West High never trailed on Saturday but didn’t pull away until a 12-2 burst in the third quarter fueled by Grahm Goering.

Goering had seven straight points in a span of 50 seconds helping West High turn a seven-point lead into a 57-43 cushion.

Freshman Kareem Earl had 14 points and five rebounds, Goering had nine points and Andrew Tauchen and Savion Taylor each had eight.

“We are starting to get there,” Barnes said. “Once we get our offense straight I think we will be perfectly fine.”

West High is scheduled to host Dubuque Senior on Tuesday but has already had its games against Liberty High and City High set for Friday and Saturday scratched leaving the Trojans once again anticipating schedule changes.

“It’s better to play the same teams than not play anyone at all,” Moe said. “If we can play, I’ll play.”

Burlington                 16  14  16  15  –  61

West High                  21  17  19  13  –  70

West High (70) – Christian Barnes 0-4 2-3 2, Andrew Tauchen 3-4 0-0 8, Mikey Brown 1-1 0-0 3, Pete Moe 7-11 12-13 26, Kareem Earl 6-7 0-0 14, Grahm Goering 4-6 1-1 9, Savion Taylor 3-7 0-2 8, Totals 24-40 15-19 70.

Burlington (61) – Michael Alexander 4-8 0-0 8, Brendon Hale 5-7 3-4 14, Amarion Davis 2-5 0-0 4, Anakin Kelly 3-4 0-0 6, Trent Burnett 1-3 0-0 2, Jordan Lowe 5-8 1-3 11, Nate Spear 2-6 0-0 5, Hunter Johnson 1-2 2-2 4, Jackson Carlson 0-1 2-4 2, Merquiche Lewis Jr. 2-4 0-0 5, Totals 25-48 8-13 61.

3-point field goals – ICW 7-17 (Barnes 0-2, Tauchen 2-3, Brown 1-1, Moe 0-2, Earl 2-3, Taylor 2-6), BUR 3-13 (Alexander 0-3, Hale 1-2, Davis 0-1, Burnett 0-1, Spear 1-4, Lewis Jr. 1-2). Rebounds – ICW 22 (Earl 5), BUR 22 (Lowe 6). Turnovers – ICW 13, BUR 10. Total fouls – ICW 15, BUR 17. Fouled out – BUR (Lowe). Technical fouls – BUR (Lowe).

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