Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Da’Shon Fisher has had plenty of impressive performances the past two seasons.

The high-flying Liberty High guard has made enough impressive plays to fill more than a few highlight reels.

Fisher may not have ever been better than he was Friday night against City High.

The reason for Fisher’s success in the Lightning’s 67-56 win over City High in a Mississippi Valley Conference cross-town clash at City High?

His teammates.

Luke Ramsey and Trey Hughes combined to make six 3-pointers and score 24 points which created space for Fisher who poured in a game-high 34 points as Liberty High improved to 6-6 on the season.

“When those guys can hit shots it takes the defensive pressure off of me,” Fisher said. “I know that I have shooters out there that I can rely on to hit shots and that’s a great feeling.”

Fisher scored all five Liberty High points in the opening quarter as the two teams combined to make 4-of-28 first-quarter field goal attempts.

Neither team scored for the final 5:39 of the opening quarter that ended with Liberty High leading 5-4.

As Hughes and Ramsey heated up from the perimeter the Liberty High offense started rolling.

Hughes hit three of his four 3-point attempts in the second quarter and Ramsey added another as the Lightning opened up a 31-23 halftime lead.

With Hughes and Ramsey hitting from deep the court opened up for Fisher who responded by making all four of his field goal attempts while scoring 11 second-quarter points.

“He is starting to get to the point where he is trusting the guys around him and when Luke and Trey are hitting shots it’s tough to guard because he can get downhill so easily,” Liberty High coach Ryan Kelly said. “I think he is doing a great job of learning how to be a point guard, and he’s got a ways to go but he is trusting his guys and I thought he did a good job tonight of making reads.”

City High (5-8) took a 13-8 lead on a Jameer James 3-pointer with 6:36 left in the first half but Liberty High scored the next eight points to take a 16-13 lead and never trailed again.

Fisher had five points during the 8-0 spurt capped by a two-handed dunk in transition.

“It’s really fun playing point guard especially when we get turnovers on defense and I can get in the open court,” Fisher said. “I like to take advantage of those moments.”

City High got as closed as six at 52-46 on a Shamar Benton dunk with 4:44 left.

Liberty High again had the answer.

Ramsey hit a 3-pointer during an 8-0 run that pushed the Liberty High lead back to 60-46.

After starting the game 2-of-12 Liberty High shot 48 percent over the final three quarters.

“When we hitting jump shots you can’t sag off Da’Shon anymore because he’s going to get to the hole,” Ramsey said. “When he does that and dishes to us it’s almost impossible to guard when we are playing like that.”

While the offense was efficient for Liberty High over the final three quarters it was the game-long defensive effort that stood out to Kelly.

After allowing more than 73 points in four of its previous five games Liberty High limited City High to 56 points on 32 percent shooting.

“I think that definitely took a step defensively,” Kelley said. “If you look at our last few games we’ve been giving up 70 points so we really tried to dial in on the defensive end and I thought we did a really good job.”

Hughes finished with 14 points and eight rebounds and Ramsey had 10 points as Liberty High completed the regular season sweep of the Little Hawks.

Fisher scored his game-high 34 points on just 20 shot attempts, converting on 14.

He put the finishing touches on the win with a pair of thunderous two-handed dunks in the final minute.

Fisher added seven rebounds.

“Just knowing that I can attack and using my first step to my advantage I was trying to play off two feet knowing that I’ve got shooters that I can hit,” Fisher said. “I’m working on doing a lot more than just scoring. I can facilitate, I defend, I rebound I am just an all-around player.”

The loss was the third straight for City High which was led by Trey Wright with 14 points.

Evan Lampe had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds and freshman Samuel Mbingazo had 11 points and 13 rebounds.

“We need to go back to what consistently works for us and that’s executing our offense, getting the ball moving and buying into our defense and we didn’t do that and they made us pay for it,” City High coach Brennan Swayzer said. “Hopefully we learn from it and move on. I think consistency, or lack there of, is the perfect word.”

Liberty High             5  26  14  22  –  67

City High                  4  19  11  22  –  56

Liberty High (67) – Jailyn Buchanan 0-3 0-0 0, Maddoc Coapstick 0-3 1-2 1, Luke Ramsey 2-11 4-5 10, Graham Beckman 0-2 1-2 1, Gage Kampman 1-3 1-2 3, Cael Schramm 0-0 1-4 1, Cooper Webb 1-2 0-2 3, Da’Shon Fisher 14-20 6-9 34, Trey Hughes 4-10 2-4 14, Totals 22-54 16-30 67.

City High (56) – Trey Wright 5-9 2-4 14, Andre Wright 0-3 0-0 0, Thomas Ksobiech 0-3 0-0 0, Jameer James 3-11 0-0 9, Matt Schaeckenbach 1-1 0-0 2, Shamar Benton 5-19 0-0 10, Kris Freeman 0-3 0-0 0, Evan Lampe 5-11 0-5 10, Samuel Mbingazo 5-14 1-6 11, Parker Sutherland 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 24-75 3-15 56.

3-point field goals – ICH 5-17 (T. Wright 2-5, A. Wright 0-1, Ksobiech 0-2, James 3-7, Benton 0-2), ICL 7-24 (Buchanan 0-2, Coapstick 0-2, Ramsey 2-9, Webb 1-1, Fisher 0-1, Hughes 4-9). Rebounds – ICH 51 (Mbingazo 13), ICL 46 (Hughes 8). Turnovers – ICH 13, ICL 13. Total fouls – ICH 20, ICL 14. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – ICL (Liberty Bench).

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