Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – From the leading scorer to the last guy on the bench the expectation is the same for every player on the City High basketball team.

“Our motto is DYJ, do your job,” City High senior Jamari Newson explained. “You just have to do your job.”

Newson certainly did his job on Tuesday pouring in a game-high 26 points while posting a double-double in a 69-64 win over Dubuque Hempstead in a Mississippi Valley Conference cross-divisional contest in Iowa City.

Shamar Benton did his job too. So did Darren Richardson and Jovan Harris and Ostyn Friday, TaeShon McDaniels and Jay Kennedy.

Pretty much everyone in red and white followed the DYJ script on Tuesday as City High improved to 3-1 on the season.

Coach is always preaching to us DYJ, do your job,” Richardson said. “When we listen to coach and we follow the process and do our jobs that’s when success happens for us.”

City High had plenty of players doing their jobs on Tuesday.

Newson was the standout with 26 points and 10 boards but he had help from everyone that hit the court for City High.

Benton scored 14 points, Richardson had 12 points and six boards sophomore TaeVeon Stevens provided an offensive spark early and McDaniels, Friday and Kennedy did their best to keep 6-foot-11 Hempstead senior Cameron Fens under wraps.

The result was a third win in four games, the best start to the season for City High since the Little Hawks opened 3-1 in 2013.

“I was proud of our guys,” City High coach Brennan Swayzer said. “Compared to where we were at a few years ago to where we are at now it is night and day.”

City High trailed by as many as nine in the opening quarter that ended with Dubuque Hempstead (2-2) leading 16-10.

City High took its first lead of the game with a 6-0 second-quarter spurt capped by back-to-back transition layups by Richardson and Benton following Mustang turnovers.

“Everybody always asks what type of offense we run and I always say defensive pressure,” Swayzer said. “If we don’t do that, we don’t get to do the stuff that we are best at and the stuff they have the most fun with but the guys have bought into that. Defense is our calling card but they have bought into that.”

City High closed the first half with a 9-4 run that was fueled by Newson who had six points during the stretch that gave City High a 34-26 halftime edge.

Hempstead cut the lead to one point twice in the third quarter and twice more in the fourth, at 51-50 on a dunk by Fens and later at 57-56 on a pair of free throws by senior guard Strohmeyer before taking its first lead since the first half at 60-59 with 1:35 left.

The lead lasted for 13 seconds as Newson converted an acrobatic driving layup on the next City High possession that started a 6-0 Little Hawk run.

“We all know our job and we get the job done,” Newson said. “We know what we are capable of, we have a great coach, we came out here and played good against a great team. Cameron (Fens) and Kellen (Strohmeyer) are great players and we just did our job and got a W.”

Strohmeyer had 24 points and Fens finished with 18 points and 16 rebounds despite seeing constant attention from a rotation of City High post defenders in Kennedy, McDaniels and Friday.

“People don’t always talk about those guys or the jobs they do but they had an amazing game,” Richardson said of the post players. “They kept a tremendous player, and I’m not saying he didn’t have some points or have a good game but they kept him under control and they deserve credit.”

Newson hit six consecutive free throws in the final 16 seconds to put the game away.

City High                               10  24  15  20   –  69

Dubuque Hempstead            16  10  20  18   –  64

City High (69) – Thomas Ksobiech 0-0 1-2 1, TaeVeon Stevens 3-10 0-0 8, Shamar Benton 6-19 2-3 14, Jovan Harris 3-5 0-0 6, Darren Richardson 6-9 0-2 12, Jamari Newson 9-15 6-7 26, Ostyn Friday 0-2 0-0 0, Taeshon McDaniels 1-3 0-0 2, Totals 28-63 9-14 69.

Dubuque Hempstead (64) – Derek Leicht 0-2 0-0 0, Kellen Strohmeyer 7-14 6-8 24, Nathan Kaesbauer 5-8 4-4 14, Noah Pettinger 3-6 1-1 8, Jonny Muehring 0-2 0-0 0, Reed Strohmeyer 0-2 0-0 0, Cameron Fens 8-13 2-7 18, Totals 23-47 13-20 64.

3-point field goals – ICH 4-12 (Stevens 2-5, Benton 0-1, Harris 0-1, Richardson 0-2, Newson 2-2, Friday 0-1), DH (K. Strohmeyer 4-7, Kaesbauer 0-1, Pettinger 1-2, Muehring 0-2, R. Strohmeyer 0-2). Rebounds – ICH 37 (Newson 10), FH 33 (Fens 16). Turnovers – ICH 9, DH 15. Total fouls – ICH 18, DH 15. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

Did you enjoy this subscription free article? Help keep Your Prep Sports free by donating.